


Infinity, Interrupted

by A I Lakewood (Fierystorm22)



Series: The Valley Saga [1]
Category: Original Work, StarBorn, The Journey of The StarChildren
Genre: Angels, Demons, Dragons, Elves, F/M, Here there be dragons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2018-09-18 23:23:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 41,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9407462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fierystorm22/pseuds/A%20I%20Lakewood
Summary: Starlight jumped, then screamed. Before Kiyou could react, Zaien slid down to curl around her small body in Kiyou’s lap. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her as she fell back to sleep.After watching Zaien snuggle his youngest to sleep, Junsei slid to the ground, crawled toward the infant-burdened Kiyou, and took Zaien into his own arms. Staring down into those black eyes, Junsei felt a sense of foreboding. Zaien’s grin faded quickly, and he returned Junsei’s serious, aware look. “I will trust you once more with my daughter, Zaien, but only because I have no choice, and because I know it’s not entirely your fault how it ended. However, make no mistakes. I will not allow this to end the same way.”Zaien continued to gaze into Junsei’s eyes, and Junsei could swear he saw a flicker of comprehension behind those black, black eyes.“I will not allow you to kill Starlight ever again.”





	1. Resume

**Author's Note:**

> This is my original book. All characters are mine. It's the third in the StarBorn series. The first two are The Journey of The StarChildren, and StarBorn.  
> If you haven't read the first two books, you can still follow along perfectly.

Prologue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_He shifted his weight, eyes moving from one infant to the other. “It’s nice to see him having fun.”_

_“You’d see it more often if you stopped by more.”_

_He glanced up at him, pressing his lips in a tight line. “Perhaps, but. . . . Believe me when I say this is for the best. Zairyn deserves a new start, a new life. I can’t give him that, and you can’t, if I’m constantly over his shoulder. If he has a chance at a new ending, at a happy life,” his voice wavered slightly on the last word, “then he needs not to have his old father hovering over him.”_

_“Technically, you’re still his father,” Junsei reminded him. “After all, he is still the same boy. Same blood, same mind. The only difference is his parents, and the body. It’s a new body, a new start, new parents, but he still carries your blood. He’s still Zairyn Lekhrsho. Still the same infant. Hopefully he won’t grow to be the same man, but he is still the exact same boy. He’s still technically, biologically your son. Just because he was born to Martai and Nulcar doesn’t mean a thing.”_

_“He’s still yours,” Martai agreed, “even if I birthed him. Even if I carried him for nine months. He is still your son. He does not carry our blood, our life, inside him. He carries you, and Kita.”_

_He winced at hearing Zairyn’s mother’s name. “Kita is dead, and though he still carries our blood, he’s not my son. Not if he wants to survive.”_

_“Kiyou, he only made it as far as he did because of your interference. Just look at what happened to him when you weren’t around! Locked in a dungeon for a millennium. Is that the life you wish for him?”_

_“He won’t have the same life. He won’t be locked in a dungeon. And if you, at any point, ever tried to do so,” he locked eyes with Nulcar, “I would be back, and it would not be a pleasant end for you.”_

_“I would never,” he said softly, “but that’s not the only dungeon I mean. Think about it, Kiyou. Zairyn’s strongest talent was telepathy. He’s going to still have that talent. Still have that strength. That’s not going to change, and once he figures out that he is not biologically ours--and he will, Kiyou, don’t kid yourself--he is going to put himself in his own dungeon. He is going to find you, and find out why you gave him up, and what happened. What happens when he discovers the truth, Kiyou? How will he suffer then? If he goes searching for you, he will discover the truth. Is that what you want for him, for him to be haunted by that past?”_

_Kiyou looked away. “That’s not what I want for him, no, but-”_

_“That’s exactly what will happen if you don’t stop it. If you aren’t there to put those fears to rest.”_

_A tap at Kiyou’s leg made him look down. The infant in question was pulling himself to his feet, using Kiyou’s pant leg as leverage. “He’s standing,” he observed softly._

_“He hasn’t done that before.”_

_“That’s exactly why you need to stay,” Junsei said softly. “Right there. That boy, the fact that he came to you, he stood up for you, and he smiles at you. Can you truly look in his face, and tell him his father wants nothing to do with him?”_

_Kiyou looked up at his oldest friend, ice-colored eyes burning. “I want_ everything _to do with him. He is my son, and I love him with everything I have. Don’t you_ dare _think that I am making this decision lightly! I love my son. I am trying to give him the life he deserves. You talk about the past hanging over his head, what of me? I am of his past. I am his past. I am the reason he ended up the way he did--what makes any of you think having me around will change that?”_

_“You’re right,” Junsei nodded. “Absolutely right. About you being the reason he ended up the way he did.” Kiyou looked away. “He didn’t have you around until the very end. By that point, his powers were already out of control. You came into his life too late to help him. Do you really want to make that same mistake?”_

_His breath caught. “Zairyn, if I’d never been around him, Zairyn would’ve--he would’ve-”_

_“He would’ve suffered in a dungeon. He would’ve died a long time ago, if not for you being in his life. Kiyou, please, I beg of you. Rethink this decision. Realize that he needs you. You can’t just walk away from him, not this time.”_

_A moment passed. Kiyou knelt, taking the infant into his lap. Black eyes met icy eyes, and Kiyou smiled slightly. “You look so like her, Zai. You do. You have her eyes, and her lips. Your eyes remind me of her every time I see them. You deserve so much more than what I can give you.”_

_The baby giggled, grinning widely at him, and babbled wordlessly. He grabbed Kiyou’s long silver hair, tugging._

_He let him. The smallest infant began making her way toward him, and he turned to watch Selehevi crawl to him. She had a smile on her face, and he wondered if he’d ever seen her smile that happily before. Glancing up at Junsei, he realized that her father, her family, was the reason for that happiness. She stopped at his side, beaming up at him. He patted her head, ruffling her white, frizzy hair. “You would be lost without me, wouldn’t you?”_

_She started to climb into his lap, lost her balance, and flipped over onto her back on the floor. Her wide, white eyes blinked up at the ceiling in confusion._

_He chuckled. “You are pretty hopeless, aren’t you?” He lifted her, setting her in his lap._

_Zairyn and Selehevi locked eyes. After a few seconds, Zairyn’s grin widened, and he reached forward, grabbing the smaller infant and pulling her to him in a big hug. She screamed and pushed at him, struggling to get free from the hug._

_The adults laughed, and Kiyou shook his head. “Same old Selehevi, that’s for sure.”_

_“Kiyou, bottom line is this.” Nulcar sighed. “If you hadn’t been here when Zairyn was born, the planet would’ve been burnt to the ground. You were the only one who could calm him, and we need you. Without you, we will never get Zairyn’s powers under control. Please, Kiyou. Please, just stay.”_

_He glanced up at Nulcar, then quickly looked into both Martia’s and Junsei’s faces, and sighed. “Fine, I’ll stay.”_

_“Wonderful! We’ll get your room ready for you.”_

_“But not in the palace.” He locked eyes with Nulcar. “I will build a small place on the palace grounds, and serve as Zairyn’s trainer--and Selehevi’s, too, when she’s born. No offense, Junsei, but we both know I know more about the girl’s power than you do. So, I will serve as trainer. I will be there. And I will teach you to guard your thoughts from Zairyn. Because, you are right about that, Zairyn’s always been an excellent telepath.”_

_Zairyn grinned proudly, perhaps understanding what was being said, or perhaps simply knowing he was being praised._

_Selehevi slid down into Kiyou’s lap, curling into a ball. Her eyes closed, and she started to fall asleep._

_“She used to sleep like that all the time, curled into a ball, sucking her thumb.” Junsei watched his youngest daughter, smiling to himself. “I wish I knew how long she slept like that.”_

_“This time, you’ll know, because this time, nobody’s going to take them away from you.” Nulcar turned toward Kiyou. Black met icy blue. “Kiyou and I will make damn sure of it. Right,, Kiyou?”_

_He nodded. “Of course. No way I’m going to let anyone take them away if I’m not even allowed to leave.”_

_Seruiave suddenly let out a loud shrilling laugh, staring up at Junsei. He looked down at her, and she laughed again._

_Selehevi jumped, then screamed. Before Kiyou could react, Zairyn slid down to curl around her small body in Kiyou’s lap. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her as she fell back to sleep._

_After watching Zairyn snuggle his youngest to sleep, Junsei slid to the ground, crawled toward the infant-burdened Kiyou, and took Zairyn into his own arms. Staring down into those black eyes, Junsei felt a sense of foreboding. Zairyn’s grin faded quickly, and he returned Junsei’s serious, aware look. “I will trust you once more with my daughter, Zairyn, but only because I have no choice, and because I know it’s not entirely your fault how it ended. However, make no mistakes. I will not allow this to end the same way.”_

_Zairyn continued to gaze into Junsei’s eyes, and Junsei could swear he saw a flicker of comprehension behind those black, black eyes._

_“I will not allow you to kill Selehevi ever again.”_

_Chapter One: Resume_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaves crunched under my feet. The wind in my hair felt awesome. “I’m gonna win!” I yelled back.

Seiva laughed, and I heard the leaves crunching as she closed in. “No way! I’ve got’cha this time!”

“Hey! What about me?” Seruiave’s voice drifted toward us.

“Ya gotta keep up!” I yelled back. “If we get caught, we’ll have to go back to embroidery!”

“But I _like_ embroidery!”

“Then why’d’ya come with us?” Sei asked.

“Because I didn’t want to be left behind!”

“You know, if it wasn’t for all the-ahh!”

“Sei!”

I slid to a stop, whirling. Sei was nowhere on the forest path. “Wh-where did she go?”

“Someone ran into her! They went this way, I think they kidnapped her!”

“’m’right here,” Sei’s voice was muffled, but I heard bushes rustling, “but I could use a hand!”

I ran to her voice, peering into the bushes. Seiva was on the ground, staring up at me, and an older, blond boy was on the ground beside her. He was blinking wildly up at the sky. “Who are you?” I asked, offering my hand to Sei.

She grabbed my hand, and I pulled her to her feet. She turned to face the boy, and Seruiave came up to stand on my other side. “Why did you try to kidnap me?”

He shook his head, blinked a couple more times, then looked at Sei. “Didn’t try to kidnap you. I ran into you. I’m sorry. That kinda hurt! What’s your head made of?!” He shook his head, reaching up to touch his head. “That really hurt!”

“Who are you?” I asked again, a little louder.

He shook his head again. “I’m Sei. And you are?”

Sei looked at me, eyes wide. “I’m Sei. Seiva Waenshoare. Princess of Waestry.”

“Seruiave Waenshoare, Princess of Waestry.”

“Selehevi Waenshoare, Princess of Waestry.”

He stared at Sei. “Hey, we’ve the same name! What’s your full name? I’m Seiare.”

“I’m Seiva.”

“Oh. Well, I guess it’s not exactly the same name.” He stood, brushing himself off. “So how old are you guys? You seem real young to be running around alone. Without guards.”

We glanced at each other. “We’re four. How old are you?” Seruiave answered before Sei and I said anything.

“I’m seven. You guys live nearby?”

“Don’t you know where the palace is?”

He shook his head. “Nope. We’ve just moved here. I was just exploring the forest.”

We exchanged glances. “You should come talk to daddy, because you’re still on palace grounds.”

His eyes widened. “Really? I didn’t know that. Mom will have to talk to your dad. We haven’t moved in anyplace yet or anything like that, but mom wants to find a place in the woods. Secluded, she says.”

“Yea, you’ll have to talk to daddy. He has to know about everyone who moves to the planet.”

“Princess Selehevi! Princess Seruiave! Princess-! Oh!” All heads turned in the direction of the voice. A boy about our age stepped out. He had bright blue eyes and sandy brown hair with blue streaks the same shade as his eyes. He took in all three of us. “Are you the princesses of Waestry?”

Seiva nodded, moving closer to me. “Yes, we are. Who are you?”

“Your dad sent me to get you.” He smiled widely. “I’m Xtro, Prince of Xanistiry! I’ll be staying with your family for a couple days.”

“How old are you?” Sei--male Sei--asked.

“Oh, I’m six. Who are you?” He moved closer to us, eyes narrowing, and stood between me and the boy, knocking me back a bit. “And why are you talking with the princesses?”

“We ran into each other. I’m Seiare. I’m seven. You can call me Sei.”

“He says he wants to move to this planet,” I said, peering around Xtro.

He glanced back at me, and straightened his stance. He was roughly about the same height as the older boy. “You have to speak with the king about that. The princesses cannot help you in that regard. Besides, a commoner shouldn’t address the princesses so directly, and a strange commoner from another planet definitely shouldn’t be talking to them.”

“Firstly, I’m not a commoner. I was a prince where I came from. I mean, I guess I’m not anymore. My mom thought we’d have a better life if we left my dad behind.” He shrugged. “So we left the planet so he couldn’t find us.”

“What planet are you from?”

“Resaitry.”

I glanced at Xtro, who’d jerked slightly when he heard the name. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said in a low voice. “You especially shouldn’t be near the princesses.”

Sei’s face fell. “I-I’m not going to hurt them. I would never-!”

“Your planet is scum,” Xtro spat, “and you are scum for being there.”

Sei’s golden eyes met Xtro’s, and the desperation and panic in them made me gasp. “I’m not like--okay. . . . I-I understand. . . .”

He started to turn away, and I pushed Xtro out of the way, reaching forward to grab See’s arm. “C’mon. Let’s play the running game. Or we can play the hiding game.”

He looked down at me, and the unhappy look faded slowly. “Y-yea?”

I nodded. “Mhm! We’ll play for awhile, then we’ll bring you to our dad, and you can talk to him about your mom and you moving here.”

He nodded. “O-okay. Yea. That sounds like a lot of fun!”

“Princess Selehevi, I really must protest. Ravieshtrians are not a good people.”

“Nonsense,” I said, pulling Sei past him, “he looks like a good guy, and he apologized for running into Sei, so he’s nice. And besides,” I looked back at him, “if someone was mean to you just because of your planet, would that be nice? Daddy says there are bad _and_ good people on every planet. So I want to believe that everyone has good in them.”

“Thank you, Princess Selehevi,” Sei said softly.

“Ah, call me Selehevi. Princess is so old.”

“We’ll play the hiding game,” Seruiave chimed in. “I want to be the seeker!”

“Okay, but I’m the seeker after you.” Sei moved up beside me, staring up at the male Sei. “We’ve got to find another name to call you, though, because I’m already Sei. Two Sunnys is too hard to keep track of.”

“Right. I’ll be yelling, ‘I found Sei!’ and both of you would stand up!”

Sei laughed. “You can just call me Seiare until we figure it out.”

“I’m gonna call you Golden Boy. Because you’re all gold.” I nodded, smiling about my decision.

“’Golden Boy’? Well, I guess, I guess that works!”

I stopped, looking back at the still Xtro. “Hey, you coming?”

He looked over at me. “Want me to?”

I nodded. “Of course. The more people to play, the more fun we’ll have!”

He nodded back at me, then ran to catch up. “Alright. I’ll be the taunter.”

“Aww, I wanted to be the taunter.”

“Xtro will be the taunter this game, and Golden Boy will be the taunter next game, and then I want to be the taunter.” I nodded, having found a reasonable solution.

“That works. Okay. Seruiave, you wanted to be the seeker, so go hide and close your eyes.”

Seruiave nodded eagerly, then ran off until nobody could see her anymore. “’Kay! My eyes are closed!”

Everyone scattered into the forest, and I went a different way entirely. I ran through the forest as fast as I could, studying each hiding place, but never really finding a good one. I kept running, even when I heard Xtro start the taunting. “Ooh, I gotta find a hiding place! And fast! Or Seruiave’s going to find me first!” I broke through a particularly thick bush, and froze, breath catching.

 _It’s so beautiful,_ I thought. A waterfall, in the middle of the forest, hidden on every side by thick bushes and tall trees. The waterfall had to be thousands of feet high. It was so loud, but comfortingly loud. There were trees with fruits hanging on the branches, and I wanted to climb up the closest tree and taste it. The grass was so tall, it was almost taller than I was.

I moved through the grasses, toward the water, toward the cliff. The cliff was so big, I couldn’t see the end of it on either side. It just went on and on. It was beautiful. I kept walking forward until I reached the edge of the water. Looking down at it, it was so clear. I could see all the way to the bottom.

Footsteps. I could hear footsteps. I ducked low into the grass. The grass was so thick, ducking down, I couldn’t see the water I was right next to. If I were any shorter, I probably would’ve walked right into the water and not known it.

“You’re so close, yet so far!” I heard Xtro yell.

_Seruiave must be near. The taunter has to stay with the seeker._

“Ooh, look at that, so close! You’ll never find her!”

 _Does he know where I am_? I felt a shock of panic, then quieted myself. _No way he sees me. No way._

“Maybe to the left, maybe to the right, who knows? I don’t!”

“Argh! No!” I heard Sei yell.

They were still a good distance from me. I let out a breath. “Oh, she was after Sei, not me. Phew!” I did not stand, though. I stayed ducked down, and moved through the grasses carefully. I kept moving until I reached a spot that held no grass. Dirt, dry, dusty dirt, but no grass grew here. There were charred rocks and a few burnt logs, like there had been a fire here. It was a big circle, big enough for me to be able to lay down in it and stretch out, but not big enough to be noticed outside of the circle. The grasses were too thick for that, anyway.

I stepped into the circle, and an immediate wave of panic hit me. I saw fire everywhere. I was on fire. I beat at the flames, at black flames. They covered my arms! My legs were on fire, my whole body was on fire! I dropped to the ground, only dimly realizing I dropped right into the fire. The circle was on fire. Everything was on fire!

I tried to scream, but the pain and fear clogged my throat, and I could only curl into a small ball and pant. I clenched my eyes closed, and waited for death to take me.

Only, the pain faded. The pain slowly ended, and when my eyes opened, the flames were gone. I was still panting when I sat up to look around. There was no damage, no flames, nothing. Everything I’d just experienced, gone. Like it had never happened.

I crawled out of the burnt circle, and once sheathed in safe, comforting grass, I turned to stare at the place it felt I’d died. There were no new scorch marks on the dirt. No new burnt logs or rocks. Everything was the same.

_What was that?_

“So close!” I heard Xtro’s voice once more. “You’re so close to him! Almost! Maybe a step to the left. . . .”

“Got’cha!”

“Aww, you’re pretty good.” Golden Boy’s voice was closer than I thought it was. I ducked further away from the burnt circle, into the thick grasses, hunkering down.

“Now all we gotta do is find Selehevi!” I heard Sei say.

“Good luck with that! I can’t see her--I doubt you’ll find her!”

“Selehevi, you win! You’re the winner! Where are you?”

It took a few more seconds, and a few more yells, before I could stand up again. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they had to be just on the other side of the thick bushes. “Over here! Come through the bushes!” I yelled, then ducked down again. I turned and went the opposite direction, like was customary in the game. I went toward the waterfall. After about ten feet, I stopped, and yelled, “This way!” then made a turn and kept going. Looking back, the grasses was so thick, you couldn’t even see where I’d been. No path.

“Where? I don’t see you!”

“Is that a waterfall? Over there, look! See the cliff?”

“Oh, wow! It’s so pretty!”

“This way!” I yelled again, moving more toward the waterfall, still ducked. “Keep coming!”

“She’s going to the waterfall. C’mon, we can beat her!”

I giggled to myself, and hurriedly crawled to the waterfall. I stopped right next to the water. Only knew that when my hand slipped straight down into water. I didn’t touch the bottom, though, so the water must’ve been deeper than it looked. I stopped there and waited. Waited some more.

“Where are you? Hey!”

I’d reached my final hiding place, so I kept my mouth closed.

“She must be ready to end the game. Split up, we gotta find her!”

“Split up, are you-!” I heard a splash. Then laughter, and more splashes. Sei gasped, and I heard more splashes. “Help! It’s really deep!” More splashes, then more pants, and the splashes stopped. “I didn’t even see the water!”

“The earth elemental didn’t notice the water, huh?” Seruiave asked, giggling. “We’re right next to the waterfall--I knew there was water there.”

“Should’ve said something before I drowned!” Sei yelled.

“Oh, you’re fine. You can swim. Besides,” I heard a splash, “I can swim enough to save you!” More splashes. “It feels good, too.”

Another splash, and a “Whoo!” Golden Boy must’ve jumped in. “Come on in, the water’s great!”

Splash, and laughter. “It does feel really good.”

“Oh, all right. Yikes. What are you, fish?” Seiare jumped in.

“Well, I’m half-Nymph, so kinda!”

“Selehevi, we give up! We want to swim now!”

I moved toward their voices, and peeked out between the grasses, moving forward to stand on just the edge. “Okay, but I’m not getting in.”

“What? Why?!” Golden Boy swam closer, and I backed into the grass.

“Selehevi can’t swim. She won’t go near water.”

“I’ll sit with my feet in the water,” I offered, moving toward the water. I sat on the edge, dangling my feet in, letting my pants get wet. “So, Xtro, how come you’re staying with us?”

He looked away. “My dad thought it would be good for me.”

I sensed that was partially a lie, but I let it go, shrugging. “I was just curious if there’s a ball coming up soon, or what.”

“Not that I know of.”

“I wish! I love when Mama throws balls. They’re so fun. All the dancing, and the pretty gowns!”

“The good food,” Sei said, rubbing her stomach. “That’s the only good thing about the balls.”

“The chocolate.” I sighed. “But I hate the dresses, and the dancing.”

“Me too.”

“I love the dancing. Mama says we’ll be wearing the gowns we’ve been embroidering next ball.”

I rolled my eyes. “Great. So all that hard work and bloody fingers aren’t the worst part of embroidery. We have to wear those monstrous things.”

Sei sighed. “I hate being a princess sometimes. I wish I could grow up in the woods. Like an Elf should.”

“I _love_ being a princess. I don’t wanna grow up in the woods!”

“I don’t know,” I sighed, thinking. “Sometimes, I hate it, but other times, I like it. Like, when daddy takes us into the villages to do work. I love working with the people.”

“Me too,” Sei agreed. “That’s my favorite thing to do.”

“Your dad takes you into the villages?”

“To _work?_ ”

I nodded. “Yea. Daddy says it’s the best way to gain the love of the people.”

Sei looked down. “My dad believes fear is better than love.”

“Mine does, too.” They looked at each other. “I guess we have a few things in common, despite our different planets.”

“For the record,” Golden Boy started, “I hate my planet, too. I know how hated it is by other planets, and I know the reason is because it’s betrayed a lot of peace treaties. That’s why mom and I left. Mom hated being the queen of a planet she hated.”

“Then why didn’t she do something to change it?” I asked. “The Queen has a lot of power. She can make things happen.”

“My dad wouldn’t listen to her. They got into lots of fights. Mom thought it was safer for us to just leave.”

“My mom would never let dad not listen to her.”

“Sometimes I think mom is more powerful than dad,” Seruiave whispered.

“At least he’s always on our side, though. He always lets us get out of embroidery, or dancing.”

“But never out of learning.” I sighed. “I think that’s my least favorite time of the day. When he makes us sit with the tutor.”

Seruiave nodded. “I hate that.”

“I’d rather that than embroidery.”

I nodded. “That’s true.”

“I love embroidery.”

“I can’t wait until our birthday.” Sei smiled. “Daddy says when we turn five, he’s going to let us start learning weapons for real.”

“For real?” Xtro asked, looking at each of us.

“Daddy sneaks us lessons now, but he says once we’re five, we’ll be able to actually start real training.”

“Mama hates us learning to fight, but daddy says it’s important.”

“I hate fighting.”

“I like fighting.”

“I love it. It’s so fun.”

I yawned, suddenly sleepy. “I think it’s time to go back. I’m getting tired.”

Sei nodded, yawning. “Me too. Besides, it’s getting late. Mama and papa are probably looking for us.”

“You got that right,” a new voice replied. We jumped, turning. Over the grasses, I could see daddy. “I figured you’d eventually find your way here,” he said, laughing as he came closer. “It’s very beautiful here, isn’t it?” He stopped suddenly, turning his head to look at something. A strange look fell over his face. He was silent for a few minutes, staring at something. “We should go, sweetlings. It’s getting close to bedtime.” He picked me up, arms tight around me. “Come on, kids. Let’s go.”

“Daddy, we should cut the grasses around here, make it easier to come here.”

He looked around slowly. “I don’t guess I can keep you guys from coming here for long, so okay. I’ll get the grass cut down a bit.”

“Yay!” Seruiave jumped out of the water. “Daddy, I’m tired.”

Daddy knelt, picked her up. “Come on, Sei. Let’s go.”

“I don’t need carried!” she said, climbing out of the water. “I want to walk so I can remember the way to get here.”

He nodded, stood, and started to walk.

“I want to walk, too,” I told him.

He shook his head, glancing over toward whatever he’d been staring at before. “I think I’ll carry you. . . . Just until we get a bit further.” He carried me until we got past the thick bushes, then knelt and let me go. “Just stay close to me, okay?”

I nodded. “I promise.” I reached over and grabbed his pant leg, glancing back at the waterfall place.

Hm. The waterfall place. That’s a good name for it.

“We’ll call it the Waterfall Place,” I said, nodding.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Me too.”

“Waterfall Place,” Xtro nodded, “sounds right.”

“I like it.”

Daddy didn’t say anything at first, but when I looked up, he was smiling. “That’s exactly what it should be called.”

_The Waterfall Place. I think I’m going to make that our hangout!_

“When we get home, I think it’s time you girls go to bed. It’s late.”

I looked up at him. Seruiave was laying against daddy’s shoulder, and it looked like she was falling asleep. “Daddy, Seiare says his family wants to move to our planet.”

He glanced back at the blond boy following us. Seiare had fallen eerily silent since daddy had come. “I already know about them, sweetling. I helped his mother relocate.”

Golden Boy looked up at him, eyes wide. “Wh-what?”

“I helped your mother come here, and gave her permission to stay on the palace grounds until it’s safe for her to move wherever she wants to go.” He shrugged, and Seruiave made a small, displeased sound. “But she’s welcome to stay as long as she wants, even permanently, on the palace grounds.”

I smiled, turned to Golden Boy. “Hear that? Daddy says you can stay!”

“I’ll have a guard escort you home, Seiare.”

He shook his head, beaming. “Aw, nah, that’s alright! I know the way. Thank you, King Junsei.”

“Call me Junsei. King seems so stuffy.”

I giggled. “That’s exactly what I said about princess!”

He grinned at me. “Letting someone call you by your name is a great way for them to become friends with you.”

“Daddy doesn’t even let the commoners call him King. He always says it’s better to just let them call your name.” Sei yawned. “Daddy, I’m sleepy.”

He knelt, lifted Sei into his arms. “Come on, Selehevi. We’ll get home faster this way if I just carry you.”

“What about Xtro?”

“Aw, I’ll be fine. I’m older than you guys, I don’t have to go to bed right now.” He grinned.

“Actually, you should be going to bed now, too, so keep up. It’s late, after all, and you’re still a growing boy.”

“Daddy, I’m hungry,” Seruiave muttered.

“I know. We have dinner set up for you, so you’ll eat, then go on to bed.” He looked down at Seiare, standing. “You’re sure you’ll be okay to go home by yourself?”

“If it’s okay, Junsei, I can take him home?” Xtro asked.

He hesitated. “Okay, but be careful.”

Xtro followed Golden Boy into the bushes.

I let my head fall against his shoulder, and yawned. “I’m tired.”

“We’re almost home, sweetling.”

My eyes drifted closed. I was starting to dream when I jerked awake, and realized I was lying on something soft. Daddy was at the doors to my room. “Daddy, can you tell me a bedtime story?”

He chuckled, then closed the door. “Okay, sweetling, but let’s get your sisters first, okay?”

I nodded, and climbed out of bed to walk to the door, but he closed the door. “I thought we were going to get my sisters?”

He nodded, and moved further into the room, to the wall between my room and Seruiave’s. He touched one of the starstones embedded in my wall, and the wall suddenly slid into the ground.

I jumped backward. “Wh-what is that?”

“Hurry through, Selehevi.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the opening in the wall, right before it started to slide back up. “There’s a secret doorway between your rooms. They connect it, so you can go between each other’s rooms without anyone knowing.” He winked at me. “It’s a great way to get around. There are many other secret doors and rooms in the palace. When you’re a bit older, I’ll show you.”

Seruiave was staring at us. “How did you get in here, Daddy?” She wiped at her eyes.

“I’ll show you. Come on.”

“Daddy’s going to tell us a bedtime story.”

“Ooh!” She jumped out of bed and ran to us. “Are we getting Sei?”

He nodded and walked to the wall between Seruiave’s and Seiva’s room. He touched one of the many grey spots on the wall, and the wall slid into the floor.

Seruiave gasped. “Oh, wow!”

“Daddy says there’s one between all three of our rooms. That’s how we got into your room! He also says there are other secret doors and rooms, and he’ll show us when we’re older!”

She ran over to Sei’s bed, jumped on it, and shook Sei awake. “Wake up, wake up! Daddy’s gonna tell us a bedtime story!”

Sei looked over at us, pink eyes slightly slid. “But I was already asleep. . . .” She sighed, then sat up. We walked over to her bed, and Seruiave and I slid under the covers. All three of us snuggled together, watching daddy expectantly.

Daddy sat on the edge of the bed. “Ready?”

We nodded in unison. “Ready, daddy!”

“Once upon a time, there were two kingdoms torn apart by war. Ares and Aphrodite were fighting for control. Aphrodite believed fully that love was the strongest of all, while Ares believed war was the strongest. They tore the worlds apart, trying to prove their points, when Athena came to them. Athena said to them, ‘If you truly believe your power is strongest, then take a part of yourself, and plant it in the dirt in the sacred garden.’ So Ares and Aphrodite each chose a portion of land in the sacred gardens.

“Ares spat into the dirt, and there grew a tree. Aphrodite left a hair in the dirt, and another tree grew. Ares tree had dark grey bark, black leaves, and ugly, twisted fruit that tasted like ash. Aphrodite’s tree had pink bark, red leaves shaped as hearts, and large fruit that tasted like your favorite foods.

“Ares’ fruits, if eaten, made two people war with each other. Aphrodite’s fruits, if eaten, made two people fall in love. These trees became famous, and the kings of the kingdoms set out to find them. The first king wanted the war fruit, while the second, he wanted the love fruit. He believed Aphrodite’s fruit would cause the other king’s daughter would fall in love with him, and, thus, the war would end. It would come to a peaceful times.

“The other king desired to continue the war, and he knew his opponent wanted to end the war. He wanted to conquer the other kingdom, and could only do so with war. So both of them set out on a quest to find the trees. Now, it just so happened that they ended up finding the fruits at the same time, and when they called a meeting together, the king who wanted war invited the king who wanted peace to his home. He had ground the war fruit into a fresh juice.

“The king who wanted peace had done the same with his love fruit, and when nobody was looking, he slipped it into the daughter’s glass. As the law of the fruit goes, you must each eat half the fruit for it to work, so the king who wanted war drank half the juice from the fruit, and the king who wanted peace ended up drinking both half the juice from the love fruit, and half the juice from the war fruit. And this, though it gave him his desire, and he and the princess instantly fell in love, the fruit led him to believe the only way to obtain the princess was through war.

“And the war continued, with the princess and the king on opposite ends, both desiring each other, both wanting to love one another, and yet, the war keeping them both apart. Years dredged on like this, and the kingdoms suffered. There was a young girl who had seen the suffering of both kingdoms. A commoner. She was upset that all the fighting never seemed to end, and she was crying alone in the woods, lamenting and cursing all the gods for the wars.

“And Athena appeared before her. The girl became frightened, but Athena put her worries to rest. ‘Young one,’ she said to the girl, ‘why do you cry so?’ The girl looked at Athena, and knew instantly who she was. ‘I am tired of wars. I wish it would end.’ Athena appraised the girl. ‘Which kingdom do you believe is right, the kingdom who desires war, or the one who desires love?’ The girl answered, ‘Neither, Goddess. I believe both causes unrest, and I believe there is something greater than both.’ ‘What do you believe is greater?’ Athena asked.

“The girl thought harder for a moment. ‘I believe knowledge is better. I believe it is better to know who you love, than love the unknown. The king took fruit to cause a stranger to fall in love with him. I don’t think that’s the greatest thing, for now there is a man out there who will be alone for life, because his soulmate was stolen and forced into the arms of another man.’ Athena nodded, and asked the girl if she would like to go on a quest for her. The girl said yes, and Athena gave her an enchanted ax. ‘Take this ax, my child,’ Athena said, ‘and find the trees in a year. Cut them down. After you cut them down, though, there will be a terrible price.’

“’Whatever price there is, I shall pay it,’ said the girl. Athena nodded. ‘The price will be your life.’ A year passed, and the girl found and chopped the trees down. After both trees were cut, the girl felt her life fading. She found a small hill, and lay upon the hill to die. As she lay there, dying, Athena came down and held the dying girl in her arms. ‘Dear child,’ she said softly, ‘for your sacrifice, I will give the world a great gift. Because of you, this war is going to end soon. Thank you for your bravery.’

“And Athena shed a single tear. A tree grew up around the girl, encasing her body, and kept growing. The tree’s bark was light gold, the leaves a deep gold, and the fruit a bright, glowing golden color. These fruit, Athena did not say what they would do. Years passed as people tried to find the trees of war and love, but as they had been cut down, nobody could find them. Trees regrow, however, and people believed the trees would come back.

“Athena had seen to that, however. The ax that had been used to cut the trees down was enchanted so that it killed the trees entirely. The stumps died and shriveled up. There was no way to revive those trees. And because nobody knew of the new tree’s existence, nobody sought that tree. Years passed, and the war went on and on. From one kingdom, a maiden decided she would no longer be a slave. She did not want to be a slave in a kingdom divided by war and hatred, so she set off to leave the kingdom.

“She left her kingdom behind, in hopes of finding something better, and ended up finding the tree. It was so beautiful, and so peaceful, that she lay upon the roots, and fell into a deep sleep. More years passed as she slept, and the leaves of the tree fell upon her as she did to transform into a beautiful gown. Her wide slave’s gown melted away, and the leaves created a glowing, golden gown for her, and to all the world, she appeared as a sleeping princess. It was this princess who turned the tree into a legend. ‘At the roots of a beautiful tree, a beautiful princess sleeps,’ said the people.

“And people set out to find the princess, to awaken her. Kiss after kiss, shake after shake, people attempted to waken the princess, but nothing worked. Finally, a prince from the opposing kingdom, not knowing about the princess, came to the same decision the slave girl had come to. He decided not to be a part of a warring kingdom, and he left the kingdom. As the slave girl had years before, he found the tree, with the girl who appeared to be a princess sleeping upon the roots.

“He found himself shocked at her beauty, and decided he would cut a fruit for them. He reached up and plucked a large, beautiful, juicy fruit, and knelt by the girl as he cut it in half. ‘Waken, dear princess,’ he called to her softly, ‘and taste this fruit, as it must be as delicious as you are lovely.’ Her eyes fluttered, and opened. She drew away from the prince, recognizing his princely attire as the opposing kingdom’s attire, and fell into a deep bow. ‘My Lord,’ she said shakily, ‘I apologize.’

“The prince looked at the girl who appeared to be a princess. ‘Why do you apologize?’ he asked her. ‘For someone such as you to come upon someone such as I sleeping lazily, it is quite a sight to behold!’ He appraised her, and nodded. ‘You are right, it is a sight, but it’s not a bad sight. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.’ She looked at him, and found herself flustered. ‘Thank you, My Lord,’ she said to him, ‘but I should be going on my way.’

“’Where are you going?’ he asked her. ‘I don’t know, but wherever I go, it won’t be torn by war!’ The prince nodded. ‘Are you hungry? We can eat, and then get on our way.’ ‘Our way?’ she asked. ‘I wish to find a place not torn by war as well. It would be safer to go together.’ She agreed, and he handed her the fruit. They both bit into the fruits, and suddenly, their minds cleared. She suddenly knew all about him, and he about her. As the knowledge of each other was deposited into their minds, they both knew, deep within their hearts, that they’d found their soulmate.

“And suddenly, a puff of smoke appeared, then another. Ares and Aphrodite were suddenly standing side by side, staring at the two. ‘You there!’ said Ares. ‘Do you feel war is best?’ He addressed the prince. The prince shook his head. ‘Why, no, I don’t believe so. I believe knowledge is best, and with knowledge comes the realization that war begets war, and nothing is accomplished by it but more death and pain.’ Ares turned to the slave girl. ‘And you, do you feel the same?’ ‘Yes, My Lord, war is nothing but pain and suffering, and knowledge tells us there are better ways to handle a situation than war.’

“Aphrodite nodded, and said, ‘Like love. Love is the best, to be able to fall in love is the best feeling, is it not?’ The girl shook her head. ‘No, I don’t believe so. I believe love cannot exist without knowledge. You cannot love someone without knowing them, knowing their darkest secrets, their desires, their fears. To love someone, you must know them, so I believe knowledge is more important.’ ‘You, do you feel the same?’ The prince nodded. ‘Aye, My Lady, I do believe knowledge is the best path. Without knowledge, sure, you might fall in love, but you will not find your soulmate. Your soulmate is more important than love.’

“Aphrodite recoiled. ‘But isn’t love and soulmate the same?’ she asked. The prince shook his head. ‘No, I don’t believe so. I love many people, but a soulmate is different. I have loved before, but the way I feel about her,’ he looked at the slave girl, ‘is different than any love I’ve felt. I don’t believe love is enough. Knowing you’ve found your soulmate is everything.’ Another puff of smoke came, and Athena stepped out from the smoke. ‘You two, you believe knowledge is strongest?’ Both nodded. ‘You have eaten the tree of knowledge, the Sacred Tree, and so, you know the truth. Without knowledge, love is impossible. With knowledge, war is unnecessary.’

“She turned to Aphrodite and Ares. ‘Can we end this war now? Love and war are nothing without knowledge, and knowledge needs both love and war to continue. Has this lesson not taught you anything?’ Both Aphrodite and Ares stared at each other, and Aphrodite finally said, ‘I see the truth now. Athena is right. We are nothing without each other, and I am sorry for believing that I am greater than you.’ Ares nodded. ‘I agree. I am sorry for believing I am greater than you, too. From now on, we work together.’

“The slave girl and the prince spread the word of the Sacred Tree, and both kingdoms sought to try its fruit. Upon eating the fruit together, the kings agreed that the war must end, and peace finally fell upon the lands.”

“What happened to the slave girl, and the prince?” Seruiave asked sleepily.

“The king who sought the love fruit had no daughters, so he decided to adopt the slave girl, making her a princess, and after many years of courtship and getting to know each other, the prince and the princess decided to marry, uniting the kingdoms once and for all.” He stood, kissed our foreheads. “Now go to sleep, my sweets.”

I closed my eyes, cuddling into the blankets. “I’m too tired to move.”

“’S’okay,” Sei mumbled, “we can stay together for the night.”

Seruiave was silent, and I glanced over to see that she was falling asleep already. I closed my eyes.

 

 

“Wake up, wake up!” Voele’s voice intruded in my dreams. “Time for your training. C’mon, wake up!”

My eyes opened, and I glared at Big Brother. “It’s way too early for this.”

“Go ‘way!” Sei mumbled.

“Ugh,” I heard Seruiave groan.

“C’mon, just get up already. We gotta go.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to play a little game, like the hiding game.”

“I don’t wanna play, I wanna sleep!”

“I’m hungry.”

I sat up, rubbing my eyes. “I thought we were training?”

“We are. We’re going to learn camouflage.” He grabbed Sei’s arm and started pulling her out of bed.

Sei grabbed onto me, and I grabbed onto Seruiave, and Seruiave grabbed onto the bed poster. “No!” she cried.

Voele groaned, let go of Sei. “Fine. We’ll do this a different way.” And suddenly the blankets were gone.

I sat up, staring at big brother, hugging myself. “It’s cold!”

“Then get up and get moving! You won’t be cold anymore!”

Sei curled into a ball, facing away from him. “Go ‘way!”

“Okay, okay. I’ll just tell Father you decided to go learn embroidery instead of training.”

She sat up. “No. Never mind. Okay, okay, I’m going.”

“Pants, wear something warm.” He walked to the door. “If you’re not up and dressed by the time I come back, you’ll have to go do embroidery with Mother.”

“I _like_ embroidery,” Seruiave muttered.

“Yea, well, we don’t, so get up!” Sei grabbed Seruiave and yanked her out of bed. “Go get dressed, right now!”

Seruiave muttered. “Fine, fine.” She stumbled toward the wall, and stared at it for a few minutes. “I don’t know how to do it from this side,” she said suddenly.

I walked over, studying the wall. There were no discolored spots on her wall, no stones. I wasn’t sure where to look. I ran my hand over the wall, on both sides. Nothing.

Seiva came over, studying the wall. “This spot here, I’m guessing.” She reached forward, pressed a part on the wall, and the wall slid down. “Now go, quickly!”

I ran over to the other wall, and Seruiave went to her closet. “You’d better hurry!” I went to the wall, and pressed two of the darker spots on her wall before it slid into the floor. I bolted across, and ran to my own closet.

It was a little more narrow than my room, to make room for the balcony, but it was longer than my room was. I went to the pants section, and quickly decided on a black shirt, and matching black pants. I left my closet and went to my armoire to grab underclothing, and ran to my bathroom. I changed quickly, then bolted to my bedroom doors. Standing there for a second, I glanced back at the double doors that led to my balcony. The black curtains didn’t let any light through, so I wasn’t sure if the sun was out or not, but something told me, the sun was probably not out.

Voele was waiting outside with Sei, but Seruiave still hadn’t come out. They were waiting at her door, and Sei was tapping her foot on the floor impatiently.

“If she’s not out in a few more seconds, I’m going to go drag her out.”

The door opened. “No need for that,” Seruiave said, finally coming out. I rolled my eyes.

“Seruiave, you can’t wear a _dress_ to train.”

Seruiave was wearing a pale cream-colored, ankle-length gown. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Didn’t you hear big brother say wear pants?”

She sighed, then turned and went back into her room. Five minutes passed, then she finally came back out. Pale cream pants and a pale blue shirt, both looked like Elvin silk. “Is this fine?”

“Do you care if they get dirty?” Big brother asked.

She sighed and went back into her room. A few more minutes passed and she came out wearing yellow pants and matching yellow, flowered shirt. “I hate this outfit. I don’t care if it gets dirty.”

“Seruiave,” big brother covered his face with his hands, “you realize we’re trying to _camouflage,_ right? As in, the brighter your clothes, the easier you’ll be seen?”

I looked at Sei. Sei was wearing a dark brown shirt and dark green pants. I was wearing black clothes.

“I won’t be seen in this,” she said brightly. “It’s got flowers on it. That’s camouflage, right?”

He shook his head, then turned away. “All right, all right, let’s just get going.”

We followed after him, Sei and I obviously excited about it all, and Seruiave trudging behind slowly. Big brother led us out of the hallway, into the small indoors balcony, then down the stairs, and out the front doors. The stairs that led to the front doors of the palace were white, and glowing in the dark. So the sun still hadn’t come out.

He led us down the stairs, out through the front gardens, and into the forest. Then he turned toward us. “What’s going to happen is simple. You are going to hide, and I am going to find you. You have to find the place that you can hide yourself in best.” He closed his eyes and turned away. “Go!”

I scanned the surrounding, and ran into a bush under the shade of a large tree. I huddled down into it.

Sei and Seruiave ran into the forest, and Sei I almost lost sight of, but Seruiave, I could still see. Her flowered clothes were the easiest thing to pick out. She hid in a flowered bush, but her bright golden clothes were still a beacon while hidden in blue flowers.

_Something tells me camouflage is not going to be easy for Seruiave._

“Ready or not, here I come!” Big brother started to walk around, and I started to slide lower, but then realized he would probably hear that and froze. After scanning the forest, I caught sight of Sei, who had chosen to hide up in a tree. Her brown pants blended into the tree trunk, and the green top blended into the leaves.

“Seruiave, come out, I see you there.”

Seruiave groaned, and I smiled, tempted to shake my head. “But I was hidden so well.”

“For future reference, Seruiave, blue does not hide yellow.”

“But those are the colors I wear all the time!”

“Do they look like the same color?”

“No, but they look good together!”

He sighed, then looked around. A few minutes passed before he looked toward me. He smiled. “Selehevi, I see you. Come on out!”

I groaned, but came out without complaint. “How’d you see me so fast?”

“You girls still have a lot to learn.” He chuckled. “The black clothes might hide you in shadow, Selehevi, but your white skin and white hair and white eyes? They don’t hide you in black so well.”

I didn’t even think about that. I didn’t think about my hair or skin. That was something I had never considered. Glancing up at Sei, I saw the horror on her face and realized that was something she hadn’t thought of, either.

Voele scanned the surrounding, then looked up. “Sei, come on down. I see you.”

She groaned, climbing down. “I made the same mistake Selehevi did, didn’t I?”

He nodded. “Yea, you did. Your hair, you need to consider your hair, and your skin. You chose the right backdrops for your clothes, but you need to consider your hair and skin colors.”

“Or find a way to hide them,” I concluded.

He nodded again, echoing, “Or find a way to hide them, right.”

But how do you hide white hair and skin?

 

 

The sun was burning bright as I tried to hide in the bush I’d found. It had white flowers, and black leaves, and seemed like the perfect place to hide. White and black would be overlooked in this bush. To be sure, however, I closed my eyes and tucked my hair into my shirt.

“Seruiave, found you!”

“Oh, man, I’m never gonna get the hang of this. I wish I was doing embroidery right now. At least _that,_ I’m good at.”

I couldn’t see where she was hiding, and I didn’t dare open my eyes to see it now, but I could hear big brother walking around, and could hear Seruiave’s lighter footfalls behind his.

“Now, Seruiave, I’m going to task you with finding your sisters. I’ve been finding them all day. It’s your turn, see if you’ve learnt anything.”

Seruiave groaned. “Fine, okay, I’ll try to find them.” The heavier footfalls stopped, and a thunk told me big brother had probably decided to sit, but Seruiave continued on. Minutes passed. “I don’t see them anywhere. How am I supposed to find them!?”

“Just keep your eyes open. What have you learned today?”

“Not to hide in blue flowers,” she grumbled.

“And?”

“And nothing!”

“How do I always find them?”

A minute or two passed. “Their hair?”

“Their hair, their skin, their eyes. Now go on.”

More time passed. I kept my eyes closed, kept myself still, and I could hear her pass by me at least four times.

“C’mon, Seruiave, I can see both of them. Look a little harder!”

“I’m trying!”

“Not hard enough, it would seem,” I heard a new voice, and tensed. I knew that voice. “Because even _I_ can see Selehevi’s pathetic little hiding place.”

My eyes opened. Kadra was standing a few feet from me, staring right at me. It was then that Seruiave followed Kadra’s eyes and zeroed in on me. “There you are! I couldn’t see you.”

I pushed through the bushes. “That’s not fair, Kadra. You’re not supposed to say where I am.”

“I didn’t _say_ anything.”

Sei dropped down beside me. “No, but you basically pointed at her. Big brother, does that count?”

“For now, we’ll let it count. What are you doing out here, Kadra?”

“I just thought it would be fun to join my siblings in a little game.” She was wearing a bright gold dress, and holding the edges off the ground. “Mother said to fetch you, actually. She says she has some things to talk to you about, Voele.”

“And the girls?”

“Oh, leave them to me, _please._ I can keep an eye on them while you’re gone.” She batted her eyelashes at him, and I swallowed hard. I knew that look.

Big brother started to walk off, and I ran to him. “Don’t leave us with her, big brother, please!”

“I’ll be right back,” he promised. “I won’t go far, really.” He took off running.

“What’s the matter, dear Selehevi? Afraid of your elder sister?”

Seruiave and Seiva came to stand by me, and the three of us turned to look at her. “You’re mean to us,” Seruiave said quickly, “and we don’t like being alone with you.”

She laughed. “Oh, so because I tease you a wittle bit, you just don’t wike me? Reawy?” She spoke in baby tones. “Poor babies.” She walked closer, eyes narrowed on me, and stopped just a couple inches away. “You’d think since you get everything you want, you’d be okay with a little _teasing!_ ” She lunged forward and shoved me to the ground.

I hit hard, wincing. “That’s mean, stop it!”

Sei stood in front of me. “You will leave us alone, Kadra. It’s not funny anymore.”

“Who said I was trying to be funny?” She slapped Sei, hard, across the face.

Sei touched her cheek, and though she’d started to cry, she stopped, and looked up at her. “You can’t scare me, Kar-”

She shoved Sei over, onto me.

“Stop it!” Seruiave yelled. “Stop it, or I’m going to get big brother!”

“Oh, I’m so scared!” She started to shove Seruiave, and a purple blast threw her backward.

“I would not continue on that path, if I were you.” A girl stepped out from the forest. She must’ve been about Kadra’s age. “Is this the way Venustrians treat their family members? Because if so, I might talk to my mother about foregoing the trade arrangement.”

I looked at the girl. She had long purplish blackish hair, and violet eyes. “No, that’s just how Kadra treats us. She’s always mean to us.”

“Is that customary on Waestry?”

I shook my head, standing. “No, not at all! We treat our people like family--except Kadra. She’s just a mean person.”

“I see.” She turned to look at Kadra. “In that case, I’ll make sure Mother puts in a clause that states the trade will come to end if you come to power.”

“Wh-what? Why? Because I tease my sisters a bit? You must be an only child!”

“As a matter of fact, I have siblings, and a twin sister, and I do not treat any of them like that, thank you very much.”

“Well, that’s just stupid. If you can’t tease your siblings a bit, what’s the point in having them?” Kadra lifted her chin high. “Too bad. You’re actually really pretty, and you would make a good friend.”

“’Pretty?’” the girl asked. “So, because you think I’m a pretty, what, _girl,_ you think I’d be a good friend?”

“I don’t make ugly friends. And you must be of a royal family, right? Otherwise, I wouldn’t even bother trying to be friends.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “Firstly, yes, I am of the royal family of Wadelite. Secondly, I am not a pretty girl, as I am not, in fact, a girl, so please do not refer to me as such. Thirdly, I would absolutely not want to be friends with someone like you, as you seem to be a vapid, self-obsessed _child_.”

She threw her hair back. “Well, fine then. Be stupid, for all I care, but you look like a girl, with all that hair.” She walked away.

I looked at the girl--er, boy. “So, you’re a boy? I thought you were a girl, too. Sorry, the long hair--but I guess I should’ve seen through that, because daddy has long hair, too.”

The boy walked over, and stopped at Sei. “Your cheek is swollen. Hold still.” He held his hand over Sei’s cheek, and a light violet glow began. I watched the redness disappear from her cheek, and the boy moved his hand away, then smiled. “There, all better, right?” He looked at me. “And you, are you okay?”

I nodded. “I skinned my hands when I fell, but I’m okay.”

The boy grabbed my hands, held them in his own, and a violet glow began. There was a faint warmth, and a feeling like my skin crawling that I quickly figured out was my skin knitting back together, and he let my hands go. “Better?”

I nodded, staring at my hands. “I’ve never seen anyone heal before!”

“It’s a rare gift, but it’s something I excel at.”

I looked up at him. “That’s so cool. I don’t think I’d be a good healer, though.”

“Anyone can learn, but not anyone can be good at it.” He stepped backward, looking at all three of us. “I’m Evriana of Wadelite. You must be the triplets, and let me guess, you’re Seruiave, you’re Seiva, and you must be Selehevi.”

I nodded, smiling. “Yup! That’s exactly right!” I bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Evriana. Thank you for your assistance.” I straightened, then grinned. “As a thank-you, would you like to see something really, really cool?”

He shrugged. “Yea, sure.”

I turned. “I think I remember the way. Do you, Sei?”

“Oh, of course! Just follow me. It’s a bit of a walk, though, so I hope that’s okay!” She turned and started to jog deeper into the woods.

“I walk all the time, so it’s not a big deal,” Evriana said, following after Sei.

I jogged to keep up with Sei, and Seruiave followed. “We’re taking him to the Waterfall Place?” Seruiave asked.

I nodded. “Yup! It’s really pretty. Daddy said he would cut the grasses today, so it’ll probably be a lot easier to get to.”

“What’s the Waterfall Place?”

“Oh, we found it yesterday during our escape.” I grinned. “It was really fun. We found it while playing the hiding game!”

“Hiding game?”

“Uh-huh. It’s where you have the hiders, the seeker, and the taunter.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard of it.”

“Well, okay, let’s say we were playing. There would be two hiders, a seeker, and a taunter. The seeker has to find the hiders, but the taunter knows where the hiders are because he follows the hiders to find out where they’re hiding. Once everyone’s safely hid, the seeker comes to find them, and the taunter says things like, ‘So close, yet so far!’ just to drive the seeker to work harder. It’s fun.”

“Actually kinda sounds like fun.”

“We can play it after we get to the Waterfall Place, if you want.”

“Alright, sure.”

Sei pushed through a particularly thick bush, then stopped. “Oh. Hey.”

“Hey! Sorry, I just thought it was so pretty here. Is-is it okay if I come here?” I recognized Golden Boy’s voice.

“Yea, I just didn’t expect to see you here. Who are they?”

“Oh. Right. Sei, meet Monole, and Hena. I met them a couple days ago, when I first came here. Monole is the princess of Hevetir, and Hena is the prince of Junidex.”

“I wanna see!” I breathed, trying to see around Sei. Sei stepped in, letting the rest of us come through. The three kids were all in the water.

Hena had dark brown hair and brown eyes, and tanned skin. He was shorter than Golden Boy, but taller than I was. I assumed he had to be around my age. He waved at me. “Hi! I’m Prince Hena.”

Monole had long dark brown hair the color of tree bark, and matching brown eyes. Her hair had a dark green streak down the side of her face. She was shorter than Hena, but still taller than me. “I’m Monole, Princess of Hevetir.”

“I’m Selehevi Waenshoare, Princess of Vensutry, and these are my sisters, Seiva Waenshoare and Seruiave Waenshoare. That’s Evriana, Prince of Wadelite. It’s nice to meet you!”

“Wanna see something cool?” Golden Boy jumped out of the water, and it was then that I noticed the grasses were now cut down to my ankles. “Watch this!” He ran to the cliff, and started climbing. He climbed up, and up, and up, and up.

“If he falls, do we have to go get help?” Evriana asked.

I laughed. “If he falls, depending on the way he falls, he might just hit water.”

He reached the top of the cliff, stopped, turned back toward us, and let out a loud _whoop!_ Then ran to the side of the waterfall. “Watch this!” he yelled down, and jumped.

I gasped, covered my eyes with my hands. A few seconds passed, then a splash. I peeked out between my fingers.

The water rippled for a few seconds before Golden Boy popped out of the water. He waved at us. “That was so cool!”

“Actually,” Evriana stepped toward the cliff, “I think I’ll try that.”

“Me too!” Seruiave declared, and started to follow.

Evriana turned toward her. “You might still be a little young. . . .”

Seruiave held her hand out, palm held up. Water swirled from the pond and toward her hand, swirling around her palm. “If I jump, I’ll just have the water catch me.”

“If you jump,” he corrected, “you jump with me, okay?”

She nodded eagerly. “Okay, I promise!”

“Me too,” Sei said, stepping forward. “I wanna jump, too!”

Evriana looked toward me. “Are you jumping?”

I shook my head. “No. I-I can’t swim.”

“We’ll have to teach you that sometime, then.” Evriana turned toward the cliff. “Let’s go. Whatever your name is, you keep an eye on Selehevi while I’m gone. Got it?”

Golden Boy puffed out his chest, saluting Evriana. “I will. I watched them yesterday.”

“How old are you, anyway?”

“I’m seven.”

“I’m eight.”

“Hena’s six, and Monole’s five.”

“All right then, just keep an eye on the youngest.” He led Seruiave and Seiva to the cliff. “Can you even climb?”

Sei grabbed Seruiave’s hand and grinned. “I don’t need to climb.” She pulled Seruiave straight into the cliff, and seconds later, I looked up and saw them standing on top of the cliff. “We’ll wait for you, though!”

“Hm,” Evriana hummed, then planted his hands on the ground. A violet glow came out, and he was suddenly propelled upward, through the air, and landed on the cliff.

“That was so cool!” Golden Boy breathed. “Whoever that guy is, I want to stay on his good side!”

“You should’ve seen him earlier. He stopped my sister from picking on me, and then healed me and Seruiave.” I sat down, watching my sisters. “I hope Seruiave has Sei’s back. Sei’s not as strong a swimmer as Seruiave.”

They stopped at the edge of the cliff, with Sei on one side of Evriana and Seruiave on the other, and held hands. They jumped together, and all three whooped as they fell. There was a giant splash, and seconds passed before all three popped up. They laughed. “That was so cool!” Seruiave breathed.

“It was a rush, that’s for sure.”

“I wanna do it again!”

“All of us at once, how’s that sound?” Hena suggested.

Evriana looked at me as he swam closer to the shore. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to leave her alone.”

“Oh, I’ll be alright.”

He gave me a look, and then nodded slowly. “Okay, then. We won’t be gone for more than a few minutes.” He pulled himself out of the water. “This time, I’m climbing, though. Seiva, Seruiave, if you wouldn’t mind waiting to do that trick of yours until we’re at the top?”

Sei nodded. “Promise.”

I watched the older kids climb, and Sei danced in place. “You want to climb it, too, don’t you, Sei?”

Sei nodded. “Yes, but Seruiave definitely can’t climb it.”

“But what if you used your power to lift her up?”

“I can climb it,” Seruiave protested. “Let me show you, I can climb it!” She started to climb.

Sei shrugged. “Okay. I’ll climb. If you start to fall, Seruiave, let me know, and I’ll have a vine grab you.”

She nodded, and I suddenly felt kinda left out. “I’ll climb up with you, but I’m not jumping, okay?”

Sei looked down at me. “You can climb, sure, but don’t go near that waterfall, okay? I don’t want you to fall.”

I nodded, and ran to the cliff’s side. Reaching up for the first rock, I planted my foot in the small hole and started to climb. I used roots that stuck out, rocks that looked like good handholds, and sometimes vines, when there were some. I made it to the top, right after Sei, and, surprisingly, Seruiave made it up right after me, on her own. I grinned at her. “You did great, Seruiave!”

She grinned back. “Told’ya I could climb!”

“You three did well,” Evriana said, studying us, “but next time, climb with us. That way, if you fall, someone will have your back.”

Sei nodded. “Promise!”

“We did good, though.”

Evriana’s violet eyes turned to me. “But how will you get down, are you going to just climb down?”

I nodded. “Yea, I’m just gonna climb.” That wasn’t really something I’d thought over.

“I’ll stay up here with her!” Golden Boy volunteered. “Until you get back, that is.”

Evriana nodded. “Agreed.”

“Hey!” I heard a distant yell. Looking down at the waterfall’s end, I saw someone jumping up and down, running toward the cliff. “Wait for me!”

“That’s Xtro. He’s six.”

“I’m coming, wait!” I heard scrambling as he started to climb the cliff.

“Sei?”

She sighed. “I’ll get him, so we can jump faster.” She melted into the ground, and I heard a slight yell, a _pop,_ and a few seconds later, she was pulling Xtro from the ground.

He was blinking. “Ho-how did you do that?”

“I can travel freely through the earth!” she said proudly. “Any tree, dirt, sand, rock, anything!”

“That’s cool. Wow! I can’t do that.” He looked around. “Who are the new guys?”

“I’m Evriana, Prince of Wadelite. You guys can just call me Evr.”

“I’m Hena, Prince of Junidex.”

“And I’m Monole, Princess of Hevitir.”

“I’m Xtro. I’m Prince of Xanistiry.”

Hena and Monole gasped, then bowed deeply. “Nice to meet you, My Lord.”

He gave me a questioning glance. “Why do people do that?”

“Because you’re the prince of a higher planet, but don’t expect me to do that, because I, too, am a prince of a higher planet. The ones of the top five planets are the highest royalty. The highest royalty is Xanistiry. Then there’s Zashokt, and Waestry, and Wadelite, and, lastly, Resaitry.” Evr didn’t bow. “The top five, you can’t get higher royalty than that.”

Hena straightened, nodding. “You are the High Prince of the galaxy. We have to bow.”

“Well, here’s a question. I’m here on King Junsei’s request. What are you two doing here?”

“We are on a family vacation,” Hena explained. “It’s the best time to visit Waestry.”

“My family is, too. We have permission to visit.”

“So do we.”

“But do you have permission to visit the palace grounds?”

“Seiare invited us.”

Xtro glanced at the boy. “And since Seiare does, indeed, live on the palace grounds, you have been given a pass. Now, what are we doing here?”

“We’re jumping!”

Xtro’s bright blue eyes widened. “Jumping, what do you mean, jumping? You can’t jump! You’ll kill yourselves.”

“We’ve already jumped,” Golden Boy explained. “It’s real fun. You should try it.”

“Yea, Xtro,” Seruiave begged, “just try it once. If you don’t like it, we’ll quit doing it.”

“Please.”

“ _Please,_ ” Seruiave echoed Sei.

He looked at me. “But Selehevi can’t swim.”

“I’m not jumping. I just wanted to climb.”

He hesitated. “Okay, but you shouldn’t be left up here alone.”

Evr shook his head. “That’s exactly what I said.”

“I’ll stay with Selehevi. You guys jump, and when one of you gets back up here, I’ll jump, but I’m not leaving young Selehevi’s side.”

Evr studied him, then looked at me. “You know this guy, right?”

I nodded. “Yea. He played with us yesterday, and he’s staying with us.”

“So you trust him. In that case, okay, I agree.” He turned toward the cliff. “Seiva, Seruiave, come on.” He held his hands out, and Sei and Seruiave grabbed his hands.

Golden Boy, Hena, and Monole walked to the edge of the cliff with them, and they all counted to three before jumping.

Xtro let out a small sound. “That doesn’t look safe.”

“It looks like a lot of fun, though,” I said sadly. “I wish I was brave enough to do that.”

He looked at me, bright blue eyes wide. “I’d rather you not do that, because that looks like it’s very dangerous.”

“Everyone else is doing it.”

“Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you should.”

“But it does look like a lot of fun.”

“It is fun,” Evr said, and I jumped, “but you shouldn’t do it until you’re a much stronger swimmer. If you decide you want to learn to swim, I’d be happy to teach you.”

“I’ll pass. . . . For now. Water terrifies me. I don’t think I can ever learn.”

He shrugged. “Everyone can learn anything. Go on, Xtro, I’ll keep an eye on her.”

Xtro stood, and walked to the edge of the cliff. “Think I can do a flip?” he called to us.

“Try it!” I stood, and ran to the edge of the cliff.

Evr stopped me halfway. “Stay next to me,” he warned, holding onto my hand. He led me to the edge, and we watched Xtro jump.

Instead of just stepping off the edge like Golden Boy and the others had, he jumped straight into the air and flipped, then dove straight down, letting out a loud yell.

I laughed. “Oh, that looks so cool!”

“I want to try that,” Evr said, watching him.

“Go on, go do it, we’ve got Selehevi for now, but once you go, I want to flip!” Golden Boy’s voice made me look over to see him pulling himself up, Seruiave and Sei right behind him.

Monole and Hena were behind them.

Evr nodded, and waved me back. Once I was far back enough, he jumped, and did a flip, once, twice, and down.

“Oh! That’s awesome!”

“Dang, that’s not fair! I have to follow that!”

“I got a really hard act to follow,” Seruiave said, winking at me and Sei. “I bet none of you can do what I can do.”

“Ooh, that’ll be cool. You should be able to do it up here, right?”

She nodded. “Oh, yea. I can do it from up here.” She walked to the edge. “But you’re gonna have to let me go on my own, okay, Seiare?”

He nodded. “If you’re sure you can handle it.”

“I can. Trust me.” She winked again, then turned toward the edge. “One,” she breathed, “two, and three!” She yelled the last word, and jumped up into the air. Pale blue glow covered her body, and her legs melded together, turning pale blue, and scaly. Her pants disintegrated, and her shirt transformed into a seashell bikini. She flipped in mid-air to grin at us, and then dove straight down.

“Whoa! Ho-how did she do that?”

“Seruiave can move through water easily. She’s half-Nymph, just like Sei’s half-Imp.”

He looked at me. “And what are you?”

I smiled slightly. “Half-bird,” I joked. I didn’t really want to tell him the truth. I didn’t want to scare my new friend yet, and tell him that I fed off of blood, and was actually half-Demon. It wasn’t something you just told someone. “I move through air.”

“Well, we’ll have to see that soon, right?” Golden Boy walked to the edge. “Ready, Sei?”

She nodded. “Let’s go!”

He jumped, and curled into a ball. “Cannonball!” he yelled.

Sei followed suit, imitating him, and I watched them fall.

“If only I could do cool things like that,” I said, sighing. All I could do was use my energy to sort of hover. It wasn’t much, and I couldn’t really go high. Not yet. Daddy said once I practiced some, I would probably be able to go higher.

“Well, I wish I’d known we were allowed to use powers!” Evr said from behind me, making me jump. He stood at the edge with me, held his hand out for me. “Want to jump with me?”

“I-I can’t swim.”

“Trust me. I’ve got you.”

I studied him a moment, then took his hand and nodded. “Okay. I trust you.”

He pulled me off the cliff as he jumped. My heart stopped, I started to scream, and Evr raised his hand. Water flew out of the pond and formed a shape--no, formed a _Dragon._ He stepped down onto the water, pulling me down onto it, too, and I was surprised to find out it was solid. “Watch this,” he told me, and waved his free hand.

The Dragon took off flying in a circle, up into the air, then around in another circle. My hair whipped out behind me, around my face, and I felt my heart pound. My throat went dry, and I was shrieking. Looking down, the ground was so far beneath me, I couldn’t even make out my friends. All I saw was the giant waterfall, and trees.

Oh, wait. There they were. Little dots, jumping up and down. I think that was them, anyway.

The Dragon was moving so fast, the wind felt harsh against my skin. It took a moment for me to be able to breathe, but I breathed in the wind, and felt it encompass me. Perks to being a Wind Elemental? High tolerance to high winds. The water droplets stung slightly, though.

I’d dropped to my knees, and hadn’t really remembered doing that, but I was clutching at Evr’s hand with both of mine. “This is so cool!” I yelled over the roaring wind.

He laughed, and a spike formed in front of me. “Hang onto that spike!” Evr told me.

I let go of his hand to cling to the spike. Water droplets were spraying my face, and the wind was rushing all around me. I was afraid, but also having more fun than I’d ever thought I’d have. “This is so cool!” I yelled again.

“You haven’t seen anything yet!” Evr stood on top of the water Dragon while I sort of just lay there and clung the water-spike. He moved his hands in a spiral, and the Dragon did a flip.

I screamed, then laughed, and the Dragon started falling down, down. My stomach flipped, and I felt butterflies. I was struggling to breathe through the laughter, and right before we hit the water, Evr grabbed my arm and jumped off, onto the shore. I lay there, laughing, on my back, staring at the sky, and relearning how to breathe. “That-that was awesome!”

“Whoa, how did you do that?!”

“That was so cool! Can you do it again!?”

“Dude! How?!”

“Let’s do that again!”

Evr grinned. “One at a time, kids, one at a time!” He turned and held his hand out for me. “You okay?”

I took his hand, let him pull me up. “That was awesome!” I said breathlessly. “That was so cool!”

“You looked so left out up there, and since I knew you couldn’t jump because you can’t swim, I figured I’d give you a little bit of a thrill.”

“That was so _cool!_ ”

He smiled sheepishly. “Thanks. It’s actually kinda hard to do that, but it’s really fun.”

“To form a Dragon out of water? I’m a Water Elemental, and I can’t do that!” Seruiave was staring at her hand. There was water swirling above her palm, but she couldn’t seem to get it to hold a shape.

“That’s because you’re a Water Elemental. I’m a Dragon Elemental. I can make a Dragon out of anything.”

“That’s so cool,” Xtro breathed. “I wish I could do something cool like that. All I can do is control electricity.”

“Everyone has their different powers for a reason. We’re all chosen for a special mission.” Seiare gazed at each of us. “Someday, you’ll discover that mission, but for now?” He grinned. “Let’s just enjoy each others’ talents!”

Evr nodded. “Right. Who wants to go next?”

“Oh, I do, I do!” Seruiave jumped up and down, hand raised.

Evr grinned. “Well, we’ve got to climb, if we want to do it again.” He moved toward the cliff, started to climb.

I followed him, excited about doing the Water Dragon ride again. And I really wanted to see Seruiave’s reaction to the flip! She was going to freak out! It would be funny. I climbed, hand over hand, grabbing jutting rocks, roots, and vines as I did to pull myself up.

Sei climbed next to me, excitedly chattering. “That was so cool. I thought you were going to fall when he did the upside down thing, but that was so cool!”

“I didn’t even think about falling,” I told her. “I was just having a lot of fun.”

Seruiave caught up to us, panting a bit. “Was it scary?”

I shrugged. “No, not really. I mean, at first, it scared the hell out of me, but then after the initial shock, it was really fun!”

“Did you almost fall?”

“Nope! But you gotta really hang onto that spike when he does that flip!”

She shuddered slightly. “It looked scary, but I want to try it.”

“It’s fun. If I can do it, and I’m afraid of water and heights, you can do it, Seruiave.” We reached the top, and I pulled myself over, helping Seruiave up when she struggled slightly. I hugged her. “Just don’t freak out when you go upside down.”

“That’s the part that scares me!” she whispered.

Evr stood at the edge of the cliff. “Ready?”

Seruiave made her way over to him, shivering slightly. “I won’t fall, right?”

“I won’t let you fall. Just trust me.” Evr grabbed her hand, and pulled her over the cliff.

Seruiave screamed, and the Water Dragon appeared, lifting them up toward the sky. I watched the Dragon complete two circles, then shoot straight up, then straight back down, and watched it flip. I assumed Seruiave was clinging to the spike like I’d been, but it was hard to say, since I couldn’t see anything but the big Dragon.

The Dragon headed straight down, straight for the water, and unlike for me, Evr let both of them fall straight into the water. Evr came up first, laughing, and Seruiave flipped out of the water, her Mermaid’s tail back once again.

“Whoa!” I heard Seruiave yell. “That was awesome! Scary, at first, but so fun!”

I danced in place, watching Seruiave climb out of the water. “Who’s going next?”

“I’ll go next,” Sei said, watching Evr climb up. “Then anyone else.”

“Xtro can go next.” Golden Boy grinned. “I’m going to take my own way down.”

Sei looked at him. “You can do that?”

He shook his head. “Oh, no, I can’t create a Dragon out of water, but I’m a Sun Elemental. I have other ways to do things. You’ll see.” He winked at us.

“I’ll go next, sure. Looks like fun, and I can’t do anything like that.” He sighed. “I’m a simple Electric Elemental.”

“What’s an Electric Elemental do, anyway?”

“Oh, basically, it’s like a technopath. I can control any form of electricity, and any type of electronic, which means I have control of any sort of technology.”

“Actually, that sounds really cool.”

“Not really. It’s kinda boring. I mean, I can’t fly, like Evr can, and I can’t turn into a Mermaid, like Seruiave can, and I can’t move through the earth, like Seiva can.”

I sighed. “I know how that feels,” I said softly. “I can’t do anything, either, really. I mean, there are some things I can do, but they’re nothing I can brag about. The most I can do is hover.”

“Not true. You can jump really, really high, and can land from high places,” Sei reassured me.

“Wow, that’s cool,” I grumbled.

She smiled. “Selehevi, your other abilities will come up soon. You just have to grow into them.”

I sighed, shrugging.

“Seiva’s right,” Evr said, coming over. “Seruiave decided to stay in the water,” he said when I looked around for Seruiave. “Anyway, Seiva’s right. Your powers will come to you, and to Xtro. Xtro, you probably haven’t come into your powers, either. Both of you will, but you have to have patience. It took me awhile to come into my power, and it took a _lot_ of training for me to gain what control I have now.”

Sei bounced up and down. “You can call me Sei, by the way. Since we’re calling you Evr, you might as well just call me Sei.”

“Alright, then. Sei, are you ready?” He walked to the edge.

Golden Boy stood at the edge. “I’ll race you,” he said, grinning at Evr. “Xtro,” he looked over his shoulder, “come on, I need a passenger.”

Xtro went to Golden Boy. “Are you sure you can do whatever it is you’re going to do, without killing me?”

Golden Boy scoffed. “I was the prince of a very large planet, with a very strict trainer. I can do this.”

“Ready?” Evr asked.

“Set!”

“Go!”

All four jumped off. Water streamed up from the pond, creating the Water Dragon. Then a bright light streamed down from the sky, down, and Golden Boy and Xtro stepped down onto the beam of light.

“Hang on tight!”

The beam of light flew upward, and Xtro fell to his knees, while Golden Boy stood up straight, arms stretched out as he shrieked. “Whoohoo!” The beam flew up, and it was too bright to actually follow its flight, but I could see it flip. Both boys fell from the beam, and Xtro screamed, while Golden Boy laughed. The beam caught both of them, though Xtro landed on his back.

Evr’s Dragon dropped off into the water, and Golden Boy deposited them back on the cliff’s edge, grinning widely.

Xtro shot off of the golden beam and dropped to the ground, panting. “Never . . . again!”

Golden Boy laughed. “Oh, c’mon, you know that was awesome!”

“You _dropped_ us!”

“I did not drop us. I let us go, and then I caught us.” He laughed again. “And, besides, did you die?”

“Just about!”

“You didn’t die, you’re very much alive!”

Xtro glared at him. “You deliberately dropped us.”

“It wasn’t a drop.”

“It looked like fun,” Hena said. He laughed. “But I can do something cool, too.”

“Me too.” Monole stepped to the edge. “I’ll show you what people of my planet are capable of.” She whistled, then jumped off the cliff. Seconds passed as she fell, and a giant bird came out of nowhere. She landed on its back, and it flew upward, toward the cliff’s edge, and stopped. She grinned at us. “Anyone want a ride?”

Xtro stood. “I’ll try it, sure. Can’t be worse than Seiare’s death beam.”

“You didn’t die!” Golden Boy protested, laughing.

Hena jumped off the cliff, and rocks flew out of the ground to pile up beneath him. He stepped off the rocks, and more rocks rushed up to catch him. “Wanna try?”

Sei had finally rejoined us. “I’ll go,” she said, stepping forward. She stopped halfway there, then tilted her head. “Actually, I want to try something.” She looked over at Hena. “Catch me if I fail, yea?” He nodded, and she jumped off the cliff.

“Sei, what the-what are you doing!?”

Breath catching, I watched her fall over the edge, and she held her arms out. A vine from the side of the cliff whipped out, and she grabbed onto it. She used it to run along the side of the cliff, then let go, kicking away from the cliff. She lifted her hands upward, and a pillar of rock and dirt came up from the ground for her to land on. The pillar kept growing and growing and growing until she was level with the cliff. She was grinning. “This is awesome!”

Seruiave was staring at her. She giggled. “Oh, Gods! That looks so awesome! How are you doing that?”

Sei shrugged. “I dunno, but it’s working.”

Seruiave nodded, then took a deep breath. She jumped off the cliff’s edge without saying anything.

“Seruiave, what are _you_ doing!?”

“The same thing!” she called, falling. I watched, eyes wide, clutching the fabric over my shirt. Water shot out from the pond, meeting her halfway, and she stood on the water. She threw her hands forward, and more water shot up, creating a path. She walked the path, and it spiraled up, and up, until she was level with Sei. She grinned. “This is what I’m doing.”

I stared at both of them. “B-but. . . . How?” I felt left behind again. Both my sisters were learning new, cool tricks, and I--I was left behind. I knew nothing. It was with that desperation, that anger, fueling me that I jumped off the cliff.

“Selehevi! Hey, no, you can’t swim! We had ways to survive--if you hit those waters, you’re going to drown!” I heard Seruiave yelling.

Hearing her rush toward me, I waved her back, closing my eyes. “Go, go away!” There was a gasp, and I felt something push out from me, heard something hit something, but I didn’t open my eyes. I kept my eyes closed, and fell.

Fear filled me. _What was I thinking? I can’t swim. If I hit the water, I’ll--No! I won’t die!_

Something moved. In my back. Something moved under the skin in my back. I felt it twitch, felt it stretch, like it was filling me up. And then it started. The pain. Pain in my back. I don’t know what it was, or what caused it, but it worsened, and worsened, until I screamed. I felt my skin being ripped apart. Felt hot, liquid blood gush down my back, soaking my shirt in seconds. I clenched my fists, and screamed as my skin ripped apart.

There was a thick, wet, sucking sound, then the sound of fabric ripping away. I felt my shirt fall around the front of my torso, and felt blood soak into the waist of my pants, down.

“Sh-she’s bleeding!”

“What the heck is that black thing coming from her back!?”

“Hang on, Selehevi, I’m coming!”

All the words, all the voices, came to me from a distance. A tinny, dark distance. I could barely hear them, but there they were. Vague. Distant. Buried under the blood and air rushing in my ears.

I screamed again as another wave of pain shot through me. Something moved in my back. It took a moment before I realized _something_ was cutting through my skin. Something was cutting through my back. Whatever it was, it was moving fast, as though rushed. It all dimmed in comparison to the feeling of falling.

My eyes opened when I felt water on my feet. I was face to face with water, about to fall in, and panic hit me. I flexed some new muscle, and up I went. I don’t know what it was, or how I was doing it, but there was a new muscle in my shoulders, a muscle I’d never used, never noticed, that was now working hard. It hurt, and whatever it was that was moving felt sticky and wet, heavier with the wetness, and I realized it was my blood weighing me down.

It didn’t stop me. I flew upward, flexing those new muscles hard. _It’s almost like shrugging,_ I thought, feeling them flex. Something in my peripheral vision caught my attention, and I turned my head to see something big, black, and feathered. _Wings?!_ My mouth fell open. _I-I have wings! Wings! And I-I’m flying! I’m flying, with wings!_ I soared upward, suddenly elated, higher, and higher, and higher, until I was could barely see the ground.

Then I stopped flexing that muscle, and realized there was a new muscle in the wings. I concentrated on that, and my wings flickered, flickered again, and again, and the blood was flying off. My wings were drying out. I started to fall, and I flexed the muscle again, still going higher. _No, I don’t want to go higher! I want to land! I want to stop! How do I land?!_ But the muscle I kept flexing just kept driving me higher and higher.

With a deep breath, I stopped flexing again. I tried to focus on that other muscle, but all it did was flicker my wings--at least, that’s all I could figure out how to do. I could only flicker them. I started to fall, and I held my breath. Down, and down, but every ten or twenty feet, I’d flex my wings again, and slow my fall. Then start it all over again, down, and down, and down. The cliff side came into view. “Help me! I can’t land!” I yelled, hoping someone would hear me. I stopped flexing. Nobody seemed to react, so I figured I was probably still too high up.

I panicked again, trying to flex my wings, trying to find the muscle that made me land, but all it did was force me higher, and higher. And I was about fifty feet up when that muscle gave out entirely. I couldn’t flex it, couldn’t move it, and could only flicker my wings. Down I went.

“Selehevi!” I heard them yelling.

I fell fast, now unable to get my wings to respond. I was spiraling, around, and around, and around, and around. Dizzy. I could barely make out the ground, the people standing on it.

Then pain. My shoulder hit first, dust and dirt flew up around me. I slid about five feet before the rest of my body hit, then slid some more. For a moment, I lay there, dazed, pained, panting. I couldn’t breathe. My body felt too exhausted to move. My eyes closed, and I struggled to stay conscious.

“Selehevi! Oh, Gods, Selehevi!” Sei’s voice was the first thing I heard.

“Selehevi, are you okay? Hey! Talk to us!” Seruiave was just as frantic. I could hear sobs in her voice.

Someone knelt by me. “I’ll heal her. She’ll be okay.” I felt a warmth in my body start. Evr’s healing warmth encompassed me, and I felt myself stop breathing for a moment. “Wha-this . . . ! It’s not possible.”

“What? What’s going on?”

“I-I can’t heal her.”

“What? What do you mean, you can’t heal her?”

“It’s not working!”

“But it worked earlier!”

“I-I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know why I can’t heal her!”

I don’t really remember doing it, but I suddenly had Evr’s wrist, and had bitten into his skin. Blood filled my mouth, and it was only then that I realized I was biting him. I swallowed that blood, but let him go. My body healed slightly, and I felt myself craving more blood, but I backed away from him. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bite you.” My eyes were open now, and I could see the look on Evr’s face.

“I see now,” he said quietly, “why I couldn’t heal you. You have Demonic blood, don’t you?”

I froze, then slowly nodded, not saying anything.

He nodded. “It wasn’t active before, but the wings activated it, and with your Demonic blood active, I can’t heal you.” A small tilt of his head. “And if that’s the case, you’re about to be in a lot of pain.”

“Pain? Wh-!” I felt it. A stomach-churning, burning type of pain. I crawled over to the nearest tree, and vomited. Blood came up. The pain faded, and my wounds returned. I collapsed, pushing myself away from the blood. “What was that?” I gasped.

“Your Demonic blood is fighting against my Angelic blood. Neither one of us are full blooded Angelic or Demonic, or it would have likely killed both of us.” He scooted closer to me. “Until your Demonic blood settles, I can’t heal you, but maybe someone else can.”

Sei was kneeling beside me, offering my wrist. “Do it, Selehevi,” she said softly.

I shook my head, turning away. “I won’t bite anyone else!”

“Selehevi, you are very badly wounded, and unless you do, you’re going to take a long, long time to heal, so please, just do it.” Sei moved her wrist closer. “Please.”

“I can’t bite you, Sei,” I said softly. “You’re my sister. I’m supposed to protect you.”

“Exactly. You’re my sister. I _have_ to protect you, and in your case, this _is_ protecting you, so please.” She moved her wrist closer.

Xtro knelt, offering his wrist. “You don’t want to bite Seiva, and I understand that, so here. Bite me.”

I looked at him, eyes wide. “You don’t care that I have Demonic blood?” I asked softly.

He shook his head. “Not at all. Why would I?”

“I don’t care, either,” Hena said, kneeling beside me.

“Neither do I,” Monole said, sitting beside Hena.

“I don’t.” Evr touched my shoulder. “We can’t help what is in our blood, but we can help what it makes us.”

“Nah, I’ve known people who weren’t Demonic that’ve done way worse than Demons ever could.”

I smiled, excited and happy to have friends that could care less about my Demonic blood, and grabbed Xtro’s wrist. “This will probably hurt,” I whispered, baring my fangs.

“It’ll hurt less than it hurt you to fall, and I let you fall, so. . . . Fair play.”

And I sank fangs into his wrist.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A man stepped out of the woods. He was short, and kinda pudgy, bald. “I’ve been tracking you two for awhile, ever since I learned of your reincarnation. You have no idea how much people have offered to pay me for your bodies.” He grinned. “Zaien Lightning, a child. Once upon a time, you were older than I was. Do you remember that at all?”  
> Zaien stepped between me and the man. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Reincarnation?”  
> He laughed, throwing his head back. “So you really don’t know anything? I used to work for you, but now that you’re a child again, even I can take you out.” He stroked his chin. “I never would’ve found you, if not for the tip. I thought it was just a fairytale, but when I heard from her, I knew it wasn’t fake.”  
> “You’re crazy,” I spat out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it’s obvious you’re crazy!”  
> “Still such a rebel, huh, Starlight? Hm. It doesn’t matter now. The point is, I’ve found you. Once I finish you off and take your bodies in, I’ll be paid.” He reached his hand forward.  
> Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. It felt like something, or someone, was crushing my throat. There were invisible fingers crushing my windpipe.

“Ouch!” I yanked the needle from my thumb, watched the pinpoint of blood well up. “Dang it, that’s the third time I’ve stabbed myself!”

“Selehevi Waenshoare!” Mama looked up. “How dare you speak like that? Princesses do not talk like common people!”

I stuck my thumb into my mouth, sucking at the blood, and mumbled, “Sorry, Mama.”

She gasped, standing. “And get your fingers out of your mouth! Princesses do not suck on fingers!”

“But I’m bleeding, Mama! Do you want the blood to be on the gown?”

She pulled the blood rag off the side table, and came to me, lifting her gown off the floor with her freed hand. She grabbed my wrist and wrapped the blood rag around my thumb. “Keep that wrapped around your thumb until the bleeding stops.”

“Ouch!” I heard Seiva whimper. “That’s the fourth time in the past five minutes!”

“Mama, it’s our birthday today. Shouldn’t we be able to spend it doing fun things, not embroidery?” I batted my eyelashes at her.

She sighed. “Oh, alright, Selehevi. You and your sisters may go. It’s getting late, anyway, and you really must start getting ready for the ball, anyway.”

I groaned. “Mama, we have hours before the ball.”

“You must bathe and fix your hair and fix your gowns, and then get dressed and ready. That takes hours.”

“Mama, I’m not finished with mine!”

“Seruiave, if you want, you can stay and finish yours, but your sisters are too-!”

I was already sprinting for the door, Sei behind me. “Thanks, Mama!” I called back, throwing the double doors open before the servants could touch them.

The doors closed behind us, and Sei whispered conspiratorially, “I say we put these gowns up, find our playing clothes, and escape into the secret room for a couple days until the ball passes!”

I nodded, agreeing. “Oh, that sounds like a great idea! Mama can’t make us go to the ball if she can’t find us!”

“Now, now, children,” I heard Daddy’s voice, and we both froze. He was behind us, coming out of the library. “I hope I didn’t hear you planning to escape this ball.”

“But, daddy, this ball is-!”

“Actually, this ball is very important, and unfortunately,” he gave us both serious looks, “I can’t allow either of you to try to escape this time. Next time, I’ll give you a pass, but this time, this ball is very important, and you both need to be there. As boring and stuffy as it all is.”

I pouted. “But daddy. . . .”

“I know, Selehevi, I know. You hate these things, and I do, too. Usually, you know I’d help you hide, but this time, for your ol’ man, can you please show up on time? For me?”

Sei and I sighed. “Okay, daddy, for you, we’ll be on time.”

“You both should actually go back and finish your ballgowns,” he suggested. “We’re doing some renovations to your rooms, and they really shouldn’t be messed with until after the ball.” He turned and walked back into the library, closing the doors behind him.

Sei and I glanced at each other. “’Renovations’?” Sei repeated. “What’s that mean?”

“Means they don’t want us finding out what they’re doing to our rooms!” I whirled and ran to the double doors that led to the grand entrance hall. They opened before I got there, and I bolted for the left stairs, Sei behind me. I reached the double doors to the bedroom hallway first, and flung them open, catching a glimpse at the servants on the other side. “Sorry!” I called, running past them. “Couldn’t wait!”

Sei caught up with me right before we reached her room, and we both paused at her door. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered.

I nodded, and paused at her door, watching her reach for the handle. She hesitated, and I said, “Go on, I’m right here.”

She opened the door, and screamed.

I peered around her to find a redheaded boy standing at her bedside. He had a suitcase in his hand. “What are you doing in Sei’s room?!”

Seconds after Sei’s scream, the doors to my bedroom were thrown open, and a boy popped out. He had black hair, black eyes, and wore a black shirt, black pants, and black shoes. He had a half cloak about his shoulders, and his hair was wildly standing up on every side. “What happened? Is everyone okay?” he demanded, rushing toward us.

And I screamed. “Why were you in my room!?”

“Your room?” Both boys echoed. “That was the room I was instructed to unpack my belongings in,” the boy from my room said.

“Same here. This was the room I am supposed to stay in.”

A boy came out of Seruiave’s room. He was blond, with bright blue eyes. “What’s with all the screaming? I was trying to nap.”

“It would appear there’s a misunderstanding,” the black-haired boy said.

“No, no misunderstanding!” I told him, stomping my foot. “That is my room, and this here is Seiva’s room, and _that is Seruiave’s room!”_

Kadra’s door opened, and she stepped out, glaring at everyone. “All this yelling makes it impossible for one to sleep,” she complained. “Now what’s all the commotion?” Then a smile curled around her lips. A nasty, mean smile. “Oh, I see. You’ve seen that they are putting them in your rooms, have you? Oh, yea, Mother and Father have decided to trade you in for triplet boys instead!”

“That’s not true,” the black-haired boy protested. “I was told this was the room I would stay in when I came to visit my betrothed.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I was told,” the redhead said.

“Same here,” the blond echoed.

She sighed. “You guys just can’t follow along, can you? You’ve ruined the surprise! These boys are staying with you, in your rooms, because these are the boys you are going to marry. They will be sleeping in your rooms, in your beds, with you, whenever they visit, and since this is your _coming out_ ball, they’ll be visiting quite often.”

I swallowed, then looked at the black-haired boy. There was something vaguely threatening, terrifying about him. Like, a deep-bone kind of scary. I shook my head, backing away, and Sei moved between me and the boy, arm out as if defending me. “You will _not_ be touching my sister,” she said in a deep, serious tone.

A look passed his face, a saddened look. “I’m not going to hurt her or anything.”

“Yea, well, I don’t like you, and I don’t trust you, and I don’t want her marrying you, and I don’t want to be related to you, and I don’t want to marry _you,_ either!” She’d turned toward the redhead at the last second. “As far as _I’m_ concerned, _both_ of you can find different lodgings--better yet, you can find different _betrotheds!_ ” She looked at the blond. “And you, you I don’t know, and don’t care to know, but you will stay away from Seruiave, too!”

Kadra laughed. “Oh, but that’s not up to either of you to decide! That’s up to Mother and Father, and it’s already been decided, so you can learn to make peace with it, or you can kill yourselves, but either way, your suffering will bring me great happiness.” Still laughing, she turned away.

“Hey! You can’t talk to your sisters that way!” the black-haired boy snapped. “Their suffering won’t bring anyone happiness!”

“Obviously my sister’s suffering brings _you_ happiness, or you wouldn’t be here!” Sei snarled.

I was taken aback. I didn’t understand my own fear of the boy, but I certainly didn’t understand Seiva’s instant hatred of him. That didn’t make me any less glad of her support and protection. “What she said. I don’t want to be married to you, or anyone else!”

“Whoa, now! What’s with all this yelling?” Daddy appeared suddenly beside me. I hadn’t seen or heard him approach. “Seiva, Selehevi, both of you know better than to behave like this to people, don’t you?”

“Daddy, he’s putting his stuff in my room!” I protested.

“Yes, he was told to. He will be sharing your room with you any time he comes to visit. You’ll have to become more used to that.” He hesitated. “As a matter of fact, as a way to make up your rudeness to them, you and Seiva will be spending the rest of the day until the ball with them.”

“What?!” Sei and I said in unison. “Daddy, you can’t mean that!”

“Oh, but I do, and if either of you think to escape to your secret room, I have already shown them where it is.” He pushed me toward the black-haired boy. “Selehevi, say hello.”

I glared at the ground. “Hello,” I muttered.

“Hi!” He held his hand out. “My name is Zairyn. I apologize for the less-than amicable meeting.”

“Oh, that’s not your fault, Zairyn. That would be my own daughter’s doing. Shake his hand, Selehevi, and apologize.”

I shook his hand. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

“It’s okay. I understand it must’ve been a shock to you.” He smiled at me.

I wanted to punch him.

“Selehevi, why don’t you show Zairyn to the theater room? You can watch movies together.”

“Daddy, can I change first? Walking around in a gown is really annoying.”

“Um. Okay. Sure, but we’ll be waiting out here. If you take too long, Zairyn, you can go in and get her.” He turned to Sei. “Sei, how about you two go to the gardens to talk?”

“But daddy-!”

“You can also change, if you believe that will make you more comfortable.”

She nodded, and we glanced at each other before shuffling back into our rooms.

“As a matter of fact, Zairyn, Phoenix, go on inside with them, make sure they don’t try to run.”

I felt Zairyn follow me into the room, and I wanted to punch him again. The doors closed behind him, and I bolted to my closet, closing the door behind me. Grabbing the closest outfit, I started to unzip my gown, but couldn’t reach it. I groaned, trying to stretch my arm up around to grab the zipper. “Dang it!” I muttered.

A knock. “Are you okay in there?”

“Fine!” I yelled back. “Just can’t unzip my gown, that’s all!”

The door opened. “Why didn’t you just say so?” he asked, walking in. “I can get it for you.”

I turned to face him, backing into my closet. “I don’t think so,” I said, voice low. “I can get it.”

“Well, go ahead, fine, try it, but if you can’t, I’ll get it.” He stood there, watching me.

“I can do it on my own!”

“If you can get it unzipped on your own, I will leave the room and close the door behind me, but until then, it would be a waste of time if I walked away only to have to come back.”

I glared at him, struggling to get my arm up high enough, or low enough, to get the zipper. I groaned.

He walked closer, grabbed my shoulders, and spun me around before I could protest.

“Hey!”

He unzipped the gown. “Was that so hard?” he asked, walking away.

I heard the closet door close, and I glanced backward to make sure it was fully closed before taking the gown off. I took the shift off next, then the petticoat, and the tights, leaving the underclothing. I pulled on the plain cotton pants on, and the shirt next. Both were black. Groaning softly, I went to the door, opened it, only to find the annoying boy sitting comfortably on my bed. “Are you ready?” I reluctantly asked.

He sat up, then nodded. “Need help getting your hair down?” he asked when he saw me struggling with it.

I shook my head, and finally managed to pull my hair down. Throwing everything in my hair onto the bed, I walked to the door, pulling it open. “No. Let’s just get this over with so I can go play with my friends.”

“I want to play,” he said, following me out of my room.

“You’re not my friend,” I said coldly. Silence fell around us, and I led him down the hallway to the double doors Sei and I had just come out of. Daddy was gone, and so were Kadra and the blond boy. Sei, I heard her in her room, so I knew she was alright. Mostly.

I led him down the stairs, and through the doorway on the right side of the room, next to the right staircase. That room was the parlor. The parlor was big, white fluffy carpeting on the floor, big, cushy chairs everywhere, and a big, white, comfy couch in the middle of the room. There were small white and gold-gilt end tables next to each chair, and on either end of the couch, and a small bookcase in the corner.

On the far wall was another door, and to the left of the door I’d just come through was another door. I went through the door on the left. It was hidden by white, thick curtains, but I pushed them aside to reveal the white door and gold-gilt door, and opened the door.

The theater room had cream-colored carpet, white theater seats, and a huge screen to watch movies on. There were four rows, and each row featured a couch in the center of the row.

“What movies do you have?” he asked me.

“Uh, I dunno.”

He chose the couch, picking up the remote. “Guess we’ll find out,” he said, turning the screen on.

I reluctantly sat next to him, and watched him choose the “documentary” section. “Documentaries are boring,” I complained, rolling my eyes.

He glanced at me. “Your father said you should probably watch this,” he said, switching the movies until he came to one entitled “The Familial Curse of The Snake’s King.”

I groaned. “Everyone knows the Snake King is dead.”

“My trainer says he’s not,” Zairyn disagreed, choosing the movie. “He makes me watch this once a week so I don’t forget what he’s done, and how dangerous he is.”

“Daddy says the Snake King is dead.”

“Then he’s probably just telling you that so you won’t be afraid. My trainer says the Snake King is waiting, recuperating, because the last battle nearly killed him, but my trainer believes the Snake King will be back.”

“I doubt that,” I grumbled, leaning back against the couch. “My daddy knows everything.”

“My trainer knows everything about the Snake King. He says he once fought him.”

I scoffed. “The only one who fought him and survived was my daddy, and he says the Snake King is dead.”

“My trainer fought him,” he insisted.

“Sure, believe in fairy tales.”

The movie began, and he silently watched the credits. “Your father suggested this movie for a reason,” he said after a few minutes, “and I think it’s because he knows the Snake King’s not dead.”

I crossed my arms, watching the movie in silence. All I knew for sure was that the moment I was alone, I was going to make a run for it.

Halfway through the movie, I was really regretting letting him choose it. There were far too many gory parts. I was watching some guy get his skin peel back when I just couldn’t take it anymore. I turned away, wincing, covering my face with my hands. “This is disgusting!”

“It’s fake!” Zairyn said, laughing. He scooted closer to me, putting his arm around me. “It’s alright. I’ll protect you.”

I almost pushed away from him, but a particularly high-pitched scream made me grab onto his shirt and bury my face against his chest.

He wrapped both arms around me. “It’s okay. It’s almost over.”

The guy was still screaming. It didn’t seem like it would ever end. “Can we watch something else?!”

He hesitated. “Your dad wanted me to have you watch this.”

“Well, go talk to my dad, see if he can suggest another movie!”

He pulled away, paused the movie, and looked down at me. I met his eyes, and he studied me for a few minutes silently, then nodded. “Okay. I’ll go talk to your father and see if he has any other suggestions.” He stood, and left the room.

It took me twenty seconds to realize I was finally alone. I jumped to my feet, bolted from the room, and stopped in the parlor. After a quick glance around, I quietly, lightly walked to the grand entrance hall, and glanced out. Nobody was out there, and I ran to the front doors, opening one slowly, and stepping out, closing it quietly behind me. Once I was alone outside, I whooped, and ran into the forest.

Down the gardens, to the gate that led to the forests, and into the forest. I kept running, following our path from the gate to the Waterfall Place, and once I reached there, I sighed, feeling more comfortable than I had all day. “Finally,” I breathed. “I’m free. I’m alone. Thank the Gods!”

“Selehevi?!” I heard Zairyn’s call.

I groaned, and ran to the cliff. _If I get up there, he won’t be able to find me._ I reached up and started to climb, moving as quickly as I could. In the last year since we’d discovered the Waterfall Place, I’d become very good at climbing this cliff, though I still refused to jump. Especially after last time.

“Selehevi!” I heard him call again, closer this time.

 _No, I’m not even halfway up! Dang it!_ I climbed faster, reaching higher above my head than usual to try to cut down my climbing time. _If he sees me climbing, I won’t be able to hide!_

I was almost there when I thought I saw something in my peripheral vision, but when I looked, there was nothing there. I shook my head, and continued to climb. The yells had stopped, so I assumed he’d given up.

Almost at the top, my foot slipped. I was reaching for the root that I always used to pull myself over the top when I slipped. I started to scream, but my hand wrapped around the root just in time. A small sigh of relief, and I started to pull myself up--

The root broke, and my foot slipped again. My left hand was the only thing that kept me up, and when the rock under my left foot shifted, causing me to lose my footing on that side, too, my left hand slipped. I screamed--

A hand closed around my hand. Someone pulled me over the edge of the cliff, and I had a moment of relief before I met black, black eyes. Zairyn pulled me into his arms, against his chest, panting a little. “You almost fell. You almost died.”

I struggled against him, growling. “I’m fine, get off me!”

He pulled back, but closed his hands around my upper arms. He shook me, eyes hardening. “You could’ve died, Selehevi Waenshoare! Why would you do that?!”

“I was trying to escape you! What do you think I was doing?”

“Yea, well, did you _want_ to kill yourself in the process, or was that just an added bonus!?” He stood, ran his hand through his hair, and started to pace. “If you weren’t so damned foolish, trying to run off, I wouldn’t have had to run after you, and you wouldn’t have slipped, and if Seruiave hadn’t told me where you were going, I wouldn’t have been here to catch you, and you would’ve died. Is that worth trying to escape me?”

I blinked. “Wait. Seruiave told you where I was going?”

He turned toward me, running his hand through his hair again. “Yes. I ran into her while I was looking for you, and she told me you probably came to the Waterfall Place. When I asked what that was, she gave me directions. And if she hadn’t, you’d be dead right now!”

“I wouldn’t be dead, I can fly, y’know!”

“Flying or not!” His eyes were burning. “You could’ve died!”

“I’m alive,” I grumbled.

He made a frustrated sound, pacing back and forth. “You’re impossible! You could’ve died, and you’re acting like it’s an everyday occurrence!”

I shot to my feet, glaring at him. “What do you want from me!? You want me to break down, freak out, sob and cry because I _survived_?!”

He faced me, and I realized he was fairly tall. I wondered how old he was. “I want you to thank me!”

That took me a bit aback. I stepped backward--only to step on air. My balance wavered, and I was falling back.

His eyes widened, and he reached forward, grabbing my arm to yank me forward. I fell against him, and he wrapped his arms around me. “You’ve got to stop falling!” he growled. “You need to pay attention to what you’re doing!”

I let myself catch my breath before pushing away from him. For one angry minute, I glared at him, then blinked, and realized how close I’d actually come to killing myself. “Thank you,” I mumbled.

He cupped his ear. “What? Say again?”

“Thank you,” I said louder.

“Once more, for the people in the back?”

I glared at him. “Thank you!”

He smirked. “You’re welcome, Selehevi Waenshoare.”

I wanted to punch him again.

“Hey! Se, what are you doing up there?!” I heard a familiar voice.

Grinning, I turned to look over the edge of the cliff, feeling Zairyn’s annoying warmth move closer behind me. “Golden Boy, hey! What are you doing down there?!”

Golden beams shot toward him, and he jumped up onto the beams, letting them lift him high up. “Who’s that shadow dude behind you?” he asked when he was level with the cliff.

“Aw, he’s nobody,” I told him. “Someone who’s come for the ball tonight.”

“I,” he said, stepping up beside me, “am Prince Zairyn Pyrox Lekhrsho of Zashokt, and I am Princess Selehevi Waenshoare’s betrothed.”

Golden Boy’s eyes narrowed. “You’re _what?_ ”

Zairyn threw his arm around me. “I’m her betrothed.”

“Yea, that’s what you think,” he growled at him. “Wait until her parents hear that.”

“Her parents were the ones who set it up.”

Golden Boy stepped onto the cliff. “Well, _betrothed,_ ” he spat the word, “wanna play?”

“Sure,” he spoke in a low, even voice, “what did you have in mind?”

“Just follow me, if you think you’re brave enough.” He walked over to stand beside the waterfall, at the edge of the cliff.

Zairyn followed him. “Anything you can do, I can do better.” He stopped beside him, looking down. “You think I won’t jump? Sucks to be wrong, huh?” He turned toward me, grinned and saluted me, and jumped backward. He flipped, once, twice, thrice, and straight down.

I blinked. _Okay, that was slightly impressive._

Golden Boy glared at him. “Thinks he’s so danged cool,” he muttered, then jumped, flipping once, twice, and thrice. While Zairyn’s back flips were a little impressive, I was used to Golden Boy’s front flips. I’d never seen anyone do a back flip before.

“What’s going on?”

I jumped, whirling to find Xtro coming out of the woods. “Wh-what are you doing up here?!”

“I was just wandering through the woods, seeing what there is to see, when I heard voices. I’m guessing Sei’s here, but who else is here? Who was that other voice?”

“Zairyn Lekhrsho,” I growled.

His eyes widened. “Lekhrsho? A real Lekhrsho, of the Lekhrsho family? Of Zashokt?”

“The very same,” Zairyn said, and I jumped. He was standing right next to me. He grinned at me. “Scare ya?”

“Ho-how did you climb that fast?”

“Climb? I just ran up the cliff. I don’t have to climb it.” He scratched the back of his head. “Though I guess I could climb it, too. That would be kinda fun. I haven’t climbed anything since I learned to walk up walls and trees and things like that.”

“Walk up walls?”

Xtro stared at him, eyes wide. “So it’s true, the Lekhrsho family can walk up walls and breathe fire?”

Zairyn looked sheepish. “I’m not very good at the fire-breathing yet,” he admitted, “but Big Brother is really good at it! You should see him do it.”

I blinked. _So the Lekhrsho family is famous, or something like that?_

Zairyn’s black eyes turned toward me. He smiled. “The Lekhrsho family is very famous, Selehevi. I’m quite surprised to see that you haven’t been told of them, but according to your father, he thought he was protecting you by not telling you the whole truth.” His smile widened. “Helps to be a mind-reader!”

I winced, staring at him. _Mind-reader?_

He nodded. “I read minds. I’m really good at it, too, according to my family.”

“How many of my thoughts have you read?”

“Well, I knew you were going to make a run for it the second you were alone. I knew every time you wanted to punch me. I knew every time you wished we were watching a different movie because it was scaring you. Yea. I’ve read quite a bit, but not everything. I try not to read people’s minds, but sometimes it just happens.”

I glared at him. “You stay out of my mind!”

He held his hands up. “I can’t help it. It just happens.”

“Sure, whatever.” I rolled my eyes.

He shrugged, and his eyes zeroed in on something over my shoulder. I watched his eyes turn cold, narrowing slightly. It was almost a frightening look. “Took you long enough,” he said simply.

“Well, I wanted to climb, and take my time down in the water.” Sei walked up beside me, throwing his arm around me. “Since someone can’t actually climb.”

His eyes narrowed to slits, and I saw red flash through his eyes, saw his slit pupils. “Oh, I can climb,” he said, voice low. “Let’s see you do a back flip.” He walked toward the cliff’s edge, turned his back to it, and, never breaking eye contact with Golden Boy, back flipped straight off the cliff’s edge. He flipped once, twice, three times, turned and front flipped three times as he fell.

Golden Boy jumped, but only did front flips. Three, then spun in mid-air, and dove downward.

Xtro whooped, and jumped toward the edge. “Look out below!” He cannonballed down.

I sat at the edge, dangling my feet over the edge, watching them hit the water. “Really sucks that I’m the only one who doesn’t do it.”

“I’m going to beat you to the top!” I heard Golden Boy yell.

“No way!” Zairyn yelled back.

They ran to the cliff, and started to climb. Zairyn pulled ahead of Golden Boy quickly, and kept the lead, even though I could see Golden Boy become frustrated.

Xtro started to climb when they were halfway up, and caught up to them pretty fast, but started to lag behind when they were almost there. He was the last one to pull himself over the top. “Got it,” he said, panting.

Zairyn stretched, arms way up over his head. “That was fun! Do it again?” He walked to the edge. “Ready?”

Golden Boy walked over, and Xtro joined them. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Go!” Zairyn jumped straight up, spun in midair, back flipped in midair, and, head down, spun as he fell. Spun in dizzying circles, over and over again.

Xtro flipped off, and flipped three more times, then curled into a ball and cannonballed downward.

Golden Boy flipped almost the entire way down, until about twenty feet left, then he straightened out and hit the water with his hands above his head.

I rolled my eyes, turning my back on the cliff’s edge. “As impressive as all this is,” I said aloud, to myself, “I’d rather be doing _anything_ else.”

Zairyn was already pulling himself over the top of the cliff. “They’re so slow,” he commented, turning to look down at them.

Xtro was the second to pull himself up. “Damn,” he panted, “you’re fast!” He brushed himself off, grinning. “So, you here for the ball?”

“Kinda. I’m part of the reason the ball is happening.” He gestured toward me. “I’m Selehevi’s betrothed.”

Xtro’s grin faded slowly. “What?”

A look crossed over Zairyn’s face. “I said,” he spoke slowly, in a low voice, “I’m Selehevi’s betrothed.”

“Wh-what? But Selehevi-she. . . .” He turned bright blue eyes to me. “She doesn’t want to marry anyone. She doesn’t need a betrothed.”

“Well, she has one, and her parents seem to think she needs one.”

I glared at him. “I don’t want a betrothed, but it doesn’t look like _I_ get a say in any of it.”

Xtro’s eyes fell to the ground, and he seemed to have found something interesting in the ground. “I don’t think Selehevi needs a betrothed. It should be up to her to choose who she marries.”

“It’s not like-!” Zairyn’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not like she’d choose you, anyway.”

“What’s that mean?” Xtro fired back at him. “You may be a High Prince, but so am I, and I’m a higher High Prince than you are!”

“High Prince or not,” Zairyn scoffed, “doesn’t mean she’d choose you.”

“Whether or not she’d choose me isn’t up for debate--I never said _I wanted_ her to choose me. I said she should choose by herself. When, and _if,_ she decides to marry. Besides, I’d be a better betrothed than you!”

“And what makes you think that?” Zairyn demanded, stepping closer to Xtro. “What makes you think you’re _any_ better than I am?”

“Because Selehevi actually _likes_ me!”

Zairyn’s eyes narrowed. “What is there to like, a scrawny little boy who can’t even climb?”

Xtro’s eyes narrowed at that. He drew his fist back, and struck.

Zairyn dodged it neatly by swaying to the side. When Xtro’s fist was safely past his face, Zairyn slammed his fist into Xtro’s stomach.

Xtro doubled over, and when Zairyn raised his fist again, he dodged to the side, throwing himself on the ground. Zairyn advanced on him, and Xtro got to his feet, kicking out his left leg.

He dodged under Xtro’s leg, straightening up when his leg was right above his head. His shoulder slammed into the back of Xtro’s knee, and Zairyn wrapped both arms around his leg, then spun, once, twice, thrice, and let him go.

He was thrown backward, hit the ground hard, but he was back up in an instant, rushing at Zairyn again. He had his fist raised, and he struck fast.

Zairyn raised two fingers, knocking Xtro’s fist away easily, but missing Xtro’s knee as it slammed into his stomach. Zairyn doubled over for a second, and I was close enough to see red flash through his eyes again. He straightened, raised his fist, and struck, hard, fast, in a blur.

Xtro twisted, fell to the ground, and Zairyn advanced.

I ran between them, holding my arms out. “Stop it, stop it! It’s not okay for you to fight! Stop, right now!”

Zairyn walked forward until his chest touched my hand, and then he seemed to snap out of it. He blinked, and the red stopped flashing through his eyes. He looked up at me, at my hand, down at Xtro. “She’s right,” he said softly. He walked around me, held his hand down to Xtro. “You okay?”

Xtro groaned, looking up at Zairyn, holding the left side of his face. After a moment, he reached his free hand up and grabbed Zairyn’s hand, letting him pull him to his feet.

“Sorry about that,” Zairyn said, moving Xtro’s hand away from his face. “Let me fix that for you.” His hand started glow, a deep, dark purple.

Xtro winced, pulling away. “B’r’s!”

“Sorry,” he said, unapologetic, “but stop moving so I can heal you. It’ll hurt, but it’ll make you feel better.” He cupped his face again, and Xtro didn’t pull away this time. The blood on Xtro’s chin and gushing from his nose disappeared into his skin, and his lip shrunk in size. His nose straightened out, and the swelling in his cheek went down. Zairyn pulled his hand back. “Better?”

Xtro touched the side of his face, then slapped himself before grinning. “Much better. Thanks. And . . . and sorry.”

He shrugged, grinning. “’S’alright. I kinda started it.”

“Yea, yea, you kinda did,” Xtro said, still grinning. He slapped his hand down on his shoulder. “But next time, prepare yourself.” Electric sparks flew off his hand, and Zairyn placed his own hand on Xtro’s shoulder. His hand glowed red, and Xtro yelped, backing away.

“You should prepare _yourself._ I’m always prepared.”

Xtro laughed. “Alright, alright.”

“What? It’s not alright! That’s not right! Selehevi shouldn’t have to marry this guy!”

Xtro shrugged, turning to look at Golden Boy. “You want to take it up with him, be my guest, but the dude has one killer left hook!”

Zairyn laughed. “Sorry about that. I was going easy on you until you actually hit me, and then I lost my temper. I’m sorry. My trainer says I’m always supposed to be gentle with people, but you were tougher than I thought you would be. Until I hit you.”

“That was going _easy?_ ” His blue eyes widened. “Dang, remind me not to anger you! You’re something special, Lekhrsho. I’m a bit more than a little impressed. But then again,” he grinned, “I shouldn’t expect anything less from a Lekhrsho, should I?”

He shook his head, black eyes shining. “Nope. Us Lightnings are built to last, dad says!”

He laughed. “Your dad’s probably right.” He brushed his shoulder. “Your electric burn is already gone. My fire burn is still there.” He glanced at his shoulder.

He hovered his hand over the burn. “I’ll heal it.”

Xtro jumped back. “No, no! I think the burn hurts less than the healing!”

Zairyn laughed. “Well, at least the healing makes the hurt stop!”

“I don’t know about that, my face still feels like I held it too close to a fire!”

“Would you prefer the broken nose, broken jaw, black eye, and swollen lip?”

He shook his head. “No way, but I think I prefer the small burn to the everlasting burn.”

I stared at them, confused. Five seconds ago, they were trying to kill each other. Now they’re best friends?

_Gods. Boys are weird._

Golden Boy made a frustrated sound. “I’ve got to go home, to get ready for the ball. I’ll be there.” He walked to me, smiling at me finally. “You better be ready to give me a dance!”

I nodded, smiling. “As long as you don’t step on my toes again!”

He laughed. “I promise.” He bent and kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you at the ball!” He ran to the cliff’s edge and jumped straight off.

Zairyn growled, walked over to me, and pulled me into his arms. He bent down and pressed his lips to my cheek, where Golden Boy had kissed me, then moved his mouth to mine. “This is mine,” he growled against my mouth. “Nobody touches.” He let me go. “Let’s go get ready for the ball.” He glanced back at Xtro. “Coming?”

Xtro nodded. “Yea, of course. And I hope you know, Selehevi is dancing with me tonight!”

“You can have a dance, but the night is mine.” He grinned at me. “Wanna jump with me?”

I shook my head, eyes widening. “I-I can’t swim.”

His eyes widened. “What? Really? I’ll have to teach you. It’s dangerous to not know how to swim.” He shrugged. “Xtro, jump with me?”

Xtro nodded, grinning. “Dude, of course! Let’s go.” He ran to the edge with Zairyn. “One?”

“Two!”

“Three!” they said together.

I rolled my eyes. _Five minutes ago, they wanted to kill each other. Now they’re best friends. Ugh._ I started to climb down, down, and down. When I reached the bottom, Zairyn and Xtro were waiting, grinning at each other like they’d said something funny. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. We were just joking around.”

I jumped the rest of the way down, landing between them. “I guess we have to go.” I sighed. “This _sucks._ ”

We were walking through the forest, I ignoring Xtro and Zairyn as they joked together, when I almost literally ran into someone. I stopped right as Evriana rounded the corner. I grinned. “Evr! Hey! You’re coming to the ball?”

“Mother didn’t give me any choice,” he said, looking back at Zairyn. “My siblings are here, too. Apparently this ball is important, and who is the boy?”

“This is Zairyn Lekhrsho, of the Lekhrsho family. He’s pretty cool, actually, despite being from a kinda scary family.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yea, cool, whatever,” I said, walking past Evr quickly. “Did someone send you after me?”

He shook his head, falling into step beside me. “No, actually, I just figured it would break the boredom if we went swimming, but I see I’ve already missed that. We were late getting here.”

“Late?”

He nodded. “Yes. We ran a little late leaving, but oh, well. As soon as this ball is over enough for me to sneak away, want to go swimming? Or, well, what _you_ call swimming.”

“Yea, that sounds like a good idea. As soon as we can sneak off.”

“Sounds like fun,” Zairyn said, catching up to us. “I can start teaching you to swim then.”

“Good luck getting her in the water,” Evr joked, chuckling. “So, how old are you, anyway?”

“I’m five.”

“Five?” Xtro asked, staring at him. “But you’re as tall as I am!”

He grinned. “My family is known to be tall. You should see my trainer, though. He’s the tallest person I think I’ve ever seen!”

“Will he be at the ball?”

“Yea, I think so.”

“Think he’d take on another student?” he asked kinda dreamily.

“I can talk to him, sure. It’d be fun, having another person my age to train with!” He glanced at me. “Actually, my trainer wants to train Selehevi, too. He thinks Selehevi would benefit from his training.”

I tensed. “M-me? Why?”

He shrugged. “I dunno.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” Evr said, “Kiyou’s training is pretty much legendary.”

“Kiyou?” _Why does that name sound familiar?_

“That’s my trainer’s name. Yea, he’s kinda famous.”

 _That sounds so familiar, though. Eh, oh well._ “Let’s hurry up and get home. I just want to get this ball over with as quickly as possible.”

 

 

Staring at the mirror, I glared at my reflection. My white hair had been brushed until it gleamed, and piled atop my head in a spiral bun, with two, long, curled strands hanging at either side of my face. The gown was uncomfortable, pure white, shining, and lacy. The sleeves cinched in at the wrists, then flowed out around my hands. Its waist cinched in tightly, then fell straight to the floor in ruffled waves.

The high collar pressed against my chin if I didn’t hold my chin up high, and it was really annoying. The bodice was lacy, and ruffly. There was a thick, white ribbon around my waist, tied in a giant bow at my back. I was wearing white, elbow-length gloves. “This sucks,” I muttered. “I hate this stupid gown.”

A knock at my door. “Selehevi, are you ready?”

I groaned, closing my eyes, stomped my foot. “No, go away!” I yelled at Zairyn.

The door opened, and I could see him in the reflection of the mirror. He wore a black silk jacket with a high collar that was only half buttoned up, over a white silk shirt with a high collar that ruffled under his chin. There were golden buttons down both the shirt and the jacket, but the shirt only had two visible, and the jacket only had two buttoned. It took me a minute to realize that the jacket wasn’t unbuttoned. It was actually a chest-less jacket.

The black jacket cinched in at his wrists, but the white shirt’s sleeves spilled out of the black sleeves. They, too, were ruffled, long. His black dress pants were tucked into knee-length black boots, and when he moved and the sleeves moved away from his hands, I caught glimpses of black, fingerless gloves.

His hair was brushed until it gleamed, and pulled back in a low ponytail, though it was barely long enough to do so. His black eyes gleamed as much as his hair, though unlike his hair, did not look like it had blue streaks in the light. “You look beautiful,” he said softly, then smiled. He held his hand out to me. “Come, let’s go together.”

“I told you to go away.”

He grinned. “How has that worked for you so far?” he asked, moving into the room. He stopped right in front of me, hand still held out to me.

I glared at him, then tried to step around him. Zairyn stepped in my way, hand still held out to me. I stepped the other way, and he stepped in front of me again. Casting another glare at him, I sighed, and finally slid my hand into his. “Fine, if it’ll get me out of this room.”

He smiled, nodding. “It will. Come.” He pulled me to his side, turning to face the door. He tucked my hand in his arm, and I wrapped my fingers around his forearm. He led me from the room, closing the door behind us. “It’ll make a better entrance if we arrive together, don’t you think?” He smiled at me.

I shrugged. “Not really, because I have no desire to marry you, or anyone else.”

His face fell. “Well, we’ll figure that out later, but for now, we must present a united front.” Silence fell over us, and he led us to the double doors. The doors opened before we reached them, and we walked down the stairs together. “You’ll have to guide me to the ballroom, because I don’t know your palace.”

I tried to take my hand away from his, but he tightened his arm. “Fine. Just let me lead.”

“Nah. A man always leads. You just tell me where to go.”

I glared at him. “Through that door, right there.” I gestured toward the door next to the stairs. “It’s a hallway, and at the end of the hallway, there are double doors that are gold marble with white veins. Through those doors, that’s the ballroom.”

He nodded, and walked toward the door. It opened right before we reached it, and he kept walking. The hallway had bright white floors, with pale cream walls. The floor was shiny, reflective shiny, and our footsteps echoed off the walls. “It’s really bright in here.”

“Yea. It’s annoying at times.” We kept walking, on and on, until we reached the gold gilt doors. The doors opened as we reached them, and Zairyn pulled me inside. All the people in the ballroom turned to stare at us, varying looks of excitement and happiness on their faces.

“Told you it would look good,” Zairyn whispered, pulling me into the room.

“Selehevi, it’s about time you decided to grace us with your appearance,” Mama said, walking over. She was wearing a pale pink gown that emphasized her chest and small waist, and fell to the floor to ghost over it elegantly. “Now, you should grace your betrothed with a dance.” She smiled at me kindly, but I knew that the request was more a demand.

Zairyn smiled at her, bowing slightly. “Thank you for your stamp of approval, Queen Khris. I will gladly take Selehevi for our first dance.” He led me away from her, into the thicket of the dancers.

I caught sight of Seruiave. She was dancing, rather unhappily, with the blond boy. She kept shooting glances off to the side, and when I followed one of her glances, I saw a boy standing off to the side, roughly about big brother’s age.

He was standing to the side, pacing back and forth. He had dark black hair, and matching black eyes. His hair was long, pulled into a low ponytail, and I amended my previous thought about him being big brother’s age. He looked like he was taller. And I looked a little closer, squinting at him. He looked almost identical to the boy leading me into the dancers.

Zairyn followed my eyes. “Oh, that’s my brother, Aimasse.”

“How old is he?” I asked.

“He’s twelve.”

I blinked. _He’s_ younger _than my brother, but he looks taller._ “He’s really tall, for being that young.”

“Yea,” he looked over at him, smiling proudly. “I told you, Lightnings are known for being really tall. But my trainer is even taller than my dad. He’s over there.” He pointed.

I followed his finger, then froze. Something in me recognized the man staring at me. He was tall, Zairyn was right about that. So tall, taller than daddy. He had pale blue eyes, the color of ice, and silver hair. His skin was almost as pale as mine. His icy eyes were locked on me, and there was a look on his face I just couldn’t explain. Sadness, almost.

Zairyn let my hand go, only to place one of my hands on his shoulder, and place one of his hands at my waist. He took my other hand into his, and positioned the left half of his body against the left half of mine. “Just follow me,” he murmured, taking a step forward.

“I know how to dance, thank you.”

He smirked. “Then you know to follow me.” He led the dance, and I daydreamed kicking him in the shin and bolting. About halfway through that daydream, he pivoted slightly, slid me, the hand at my waist sliding around me to cup the other side of my waist. He stepped to the side, bending to dip me, one arm around my waist, the other hand holding mine. He smiled at me.

I hadn’t expected it. My eyes were wide, breathing had hitched a bit. Glancing around, I could see that nobody else had dipped their partner, and I realized he wasn’t following the dance. He wasn’t following the routine.

He lifted me back up, still smiling, and began to lead again. Out of nowhere, right as I’d started to daydream again, he spun me out, away from his body, using the hand holding mine.

My breath caught again, and I stared at him, eyes wide.

He reeled me back in, spinning me until my back was against his chest, and I could see that nobody else had done _this_ , either. He stepped forward, forward, to the side, side again, and pulled me backward. He lifted his hand and twirled me to face him, my gown crashing against his legs. He held me at the side, still slightly bowed backward, and he was smiling again. “Stop daydreaming, and I’ll stop breaking tradition,” he murmured, still smiling.

I blinked. “S-seriously? I told you to stay out of my mind!”

“I don’t have to read your mind to know when you start daydreaming. It shows on your face.”

“My face?”

A nod. “Yea. You get a dreamy look on your face.” He continued to pull me along with him. “Though, I do think I prefer breaking tradition. It’s more fun that way.” He grinned.

The song started to crescendo, and I felt my excitement build. _About time for it to end!_

He picked up the pace, moving faster along with the crescendo, and at its loudest point, instead of pausing like everyone else did, he slid me to the side of his body and bent low again, bending me over his arm.

This time, I let myself fall backward over his arm, looking at everyone else as they stared at us, smiling. Mama, however, looked very disapproving. Kadra shared the same disapproving look.

Zairyn held me that way until the music ended, then pulled me up against his chest, smiling down at me. “That was fun, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “If you call mind-numbing boredom fun, sure.”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “At least I didn’t step on your toes,” he muttered, letting me go.

“Hear, hear!” I heard daddy call out. “We’d like to make an announcement now that everyone’s arrived, and the first dance has finished. Seiva Waenshoare and Phoenix Elder, would you come to the stage?”

I saw movement, and I made out Sei moving through the crowd, with a redheaded boy leading the way. They made their way up to the stage quickly.

I saw daddy standing beside them, and he pulled Sei to one side, setting Phoenix on his other side. “This ball is to commemorate the betrothal of Phoenix Elder and Seiva Waenshoare. They are to be married on Seiva’s eighteenth birthday.”

Sei’s unhappy face told me everything I needed to know, and the redheaded boy looked almost as unhappy. They moved off toward the crowd.

“Seruiave Waenshoare and Risho Krihna come to the stage please.”    

Seruiave made her way to the stage. Unlike Sei, she was smiling, excited, pulling the boy along behind her. They came to the stage, and both of them were smiling brightly, but I could see Seruiave continuously glancing at Aimasse, primping herself.

_Great. She has a crush._

Zairyn chuckled. “She _really_ likes my brother.”

I glanced at him, then glared harder. “Hey! Stop reading my sister’s mind!”

He glanced at me, then looked down, seemingly abashed. “Sorry, I just was curious why she was always looking at him.”

I rolled my eyes, and looked up at the stage.

“This ball is also to commemorate Seruiave Waenshoare’s betrothal to Risho Krihna.” A few seconds, and Seruiave bowed, still glancing at Aimasse.

“Wonder how she’ll feel when she figures out my brother can read her mind just as well as I can.”

I glanced at him again. “W-wait, has he?”

He nodded. “Yea. He knows she has a crush on him.”

“You can read your brother’s mind?”

Another nod. “Of course. It’s not hard.”

“Zairyn Lekhrsho and Selehevi Waenshoare, come to the stage now, please.”

Reluctance and hesitation won out over the worry of my sister’s feelings, and I groaned, but Zairyn tucked my arm under his and pulled me to the stage. Instead of standing on either side of daddy, he had us stand in front of him, arms still linked.

“Lastly, we commemorate the betrothal of Selehevi Waenshoare and Zairyn Lekhrsho. This ball is a very important occasion, and we are excited to celebrate the betrothals tonight.” He pushed us back toward the dancers.

Zairyn led me off, deeper into the dancing again. “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

I rolled my eyes, sighing. “Sure, whatever.”

“So,” he lowered his voice, “now that the hard part is over, do you want to escape, or not?”

Eyes widening, I turned to stare up at him. “Wh-what? Really?”

He nodded, grinning. “I heard about the so-called Dragon Cave. Why don’t we go check that out?”

I grinned back at him. “Okay! Yea, sure, that sounds awesome! I know where that’s at.”

“We’ll wait until everyone’s preoccupied with something else, as they always become preoccupied by something, and we’ll slip right out those doors over there.” He pointed to the doors that led to the gardens. “Nobody will pay much attention to us if we slip out to the gardens.”

A small nod. “Yea, yea, you’re right. If we slip out into the gardens, people will just assume we’re dancing out there.”

“Can we get to the Dragon Cave from there?”

“Actually, we can get to the horse pastures from there. I glanced at him, grinning. “Can you ride?”

He nodded. “Of course I can ride.”

“So we wait, what? An hour, tops? Then escape?”

Another nod, and he glanced around the room. “Probably won’t even have to wait that long.” He pulled me toward him, and we started to dance again, and it took a few minutes before I realized he was slowly dancing our way through the crowd, toward the glass doors.

It made me smile. _He’s actually pretty sneaky._

“I’ve spent most of my life escaping things like this,” he whispered, eyes on the doors, “so I’m really good at it.”

I nodded, glancing toward the doors.

He looked down at me, smiling. “But it’ll look more suspicious if I’m staring at the doors, so. . . .” He shifted me, bending me over his arm. “We’ll dance until we get closer,” he murmured.

I nodded, not saying anything, and bent over his arm, casting a quick glance across the room. Nobody was really paying much attention to us, he was right about that. It made me grin in anticipation. _Who knew he could actually be kinda useful?_

Closer, and closer, and closer, we got, until we were right next to those doors. They were open. Zairyn glanced around the room, then pulled me out of the doors. Outside, finally, we grinned at each other. “Now, can you get to the horse’s pasture?”

I nodded, then realized. . . . “Oh. Gods. I forgot, I’m wearing a ballgown.” I looked down at myself.

He glanced at me. “Hm. Where’s your balcony at? Do you know?”

I hesitated, looked out over the garden. “That way, over that flowered archway. I always look down at that.”

He knelt. “Climb on my back. I’ll carry you.”

Staring at him, I blinked. “What?”

“Just climb on my back. Trust me, okay?” He looked back at me.

A sigh falling from me, I wrapped my arms around his throat, wrapped my legs around his waist, and he stood. “Now what?”

“I’m faster than you. This is easier.”

“You don’t even know how fast I am!”

“Don’t need to.” He took off, and I jolted. There was a second when I thought I was going to fly off his back, and he stopped. “This balcony?”

I looked up. “Y-yea.”

He moved toward the wall. “Remember I said I can walk up walls?”

I nodded. “Yes?”

“Hang on tight.” He placed one foot against the wall, then the other, and the other, and suddenly, we were sideways.

Closing my eyes, I tightened my arms and legs, and buried my face against his shoulder. I didn’t want to look down, and I was afraid if my eyes weren’t closed, I’d look down. Or up. Or whatever. Walking up walls wasn’t something I’d been taught.

Suddenly he jumped, to the side, and we were right-side up again. He jumped down. “We’re here.” He knelt.

Eyes opening, I climbed off his back. “Never, _never_ do that again. Hear me?”

“Have to do it one more time, if we want to get down.”

I glared at him, but said nothing, only moved toward the glass doors. Knowing I never locked them--and now realizing I probably should, if people could walk up walls--I opened the doors, moved through the curtains, and toward my closet. “I’m going to change into pants.”

“I’m going to change, too. I can’t wear this to go journey in a ca-oh, wait.” He moved toward me, around me, and I felt my gown loosening. “You’ll never be able to unbutton this yourself.” The bow was suddenly loosened.

I clutched the gown to my chest. “Th-that’s enough! It’s going to fall off!”

“Okay! There you go. I’ll get changed, and you can go change, and we’ll go to the Dragon Cave, yes?” He went to the suitcase on my bed, and I went to my closet.

Closing the door tightly behind me, I took the gown, the petticoats, the tights, and everything else off, leaving just my underclothing. I jogged to the part of my closet that had my pants and shirts, and chose another black shirt and matching pants, realizing that I really did wear black too much. I shrugged to myself. _Black clothes suit me, anyway._

Changing quickly, I walked to the closet door, pausing. Now I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to go. I was suddenly just tired.

“Change your mind? How about staying in, watching a movie, and going to sleep? Your dad was going to take us to the Dragon Caves tomorrow, anyway.”

I tensed. “W-what? Really?” I called through the door.

“Yea. So c’mon out. I’m already dressed for bed.”

“But I’m not. I have to get my nightgown.”

“Well, go ahead and do it, then. I’ll wait.” I heard him move away from the door.

I opened the door and went to my armoire. “My nightgowns are in here,” I told him, opening the doors. Without looking at any of them, I just grabbed a random nightgown, and jogged to the bathroom. My first thought was of the hot springs, and I wanted nothing more than to sink into its warmth. I closed the bathroom door, locking it behind me, and stripped. I showered quickly, then jumped straight into the hot springs.

A sigh fell from me, and I sank into the hot, comforting, bubbly water. “Gods, it feels so _good._ ” Ducking under the water, I let myself relax, then shot out of the water. “Bed. So-so tired. . . .” I dried myself off on the air drier, and dressed in my white, soft, Elvin silk nightgown. Leaving the bathroom, I saw Zairyn lying comfortably on the bed, blankets at his waist. He was sleeping on the side I usually slept on, by the door.

“That’s s’posed to be my side.”

He gave me a look. “Not tonight. The man sleeps by the door, to protect the woman.” He grinned. “So I’m going to protect you from now on.”

I rolled my eyes, but just climbed into bed, snuggling under the blankets. I curled on my side, blankets pulled up to my chin.

The bed shifted. I felt warmth at my back. “G’night, Selehevi.”

“G’night, Zai-!” I yawned. “En.”

“I like Zai,” he said softly. “That’s nice. I like it. It’s familiar somehow. Feels right.”

Oddly enough, I felt the same way. It did feel right. Comforting.

And terrifying all at the same time.

Despite that terror, I fell asleep quickly.

 

 

“Selehevi, hey, wake up.”

I didn’t recognize the voice. I groaned. “Go ‘way!”

A chuckle. “C’mon, Starrie Eyes, wake up. Wake up.” His voice was soft. “Wake up, Se. At least let my arm go. It’s dying.”

My eyes flashed open, and I realized there was an arm under my head. Not only was there an arm under my head, but I was clinging to it, holding it against my chest. There was warmth directly behind me, what felt like a chest against my back, and an arm around my waist.

“C’mon, Se. My arm is numb. Wake up. Please!”

I jerked, rolling away and letting his arm go at the same time. I ended up rolling off the bed, landing hard.

Zairyn was laughing when I stood. He slowly stopped when he saw me glaring at him.

“Why, _why,_ were you touching me?!”

“Hey, don’t blame me! You were the one who cuddled me last night.”

“I did not!”

“Yes, you did. You were the one who put your head on my shoulder and grabbed my arm, and then didn’t let go all night.”

“I did not do that!” My face flushed.

“Yes, you really did.”

“I did not!”

He smiled. “Okay, okay, fine, you didn’t. I was the one who made you grab my arm and hold it hostage all night.”

I glared at him. “Not funny, not funny!”

He shrugged. “Wasn’t really meaning to be funny.”

Throwing my hair back, I walked around the bed, to the bathroom. “I left my clothes in there last night, so, uh, I’m gonna go change.”

“’Kay,” he said, laying back, arm behind his head. “I’ll go after you.”

I ran into the bathroom, closed the door, and locked it. _I did not cuddle him last night. He’s lying._

“Am not!” he yelled.

“Stop that!”

“Stop thinking about me!”

“Stop reading my mind!”

“I would if I could!”

I growled, moved deeper into the bathroom, to the clothes I’d left by the huge steam shower. After using the bathroom, I changed, throwing my nightgown into the dirty clothes hamper, and left the bathroom. “Your turn,” I mumbled.

He jumped off the bed, grinned at me. “I’ll be right back out.”

 _Why is he shirtless!?_ The only thing he was wearing was black, silk shorts. I looked away, covering my face. “Why are you not wearing a shirt? You were last night!”

“Actually, I wasn’t last night. You just didn’t see me because I had the covers on.” I could hear laughter in his voice. Footsteps away from me, the closing of the bathroom door. It only took me a second to realize I was alone, then I bolted.

Down the hall, past the doors, down the stairs, and-

Someone grabbed my arm, whirling me around. Zairyn grinned. “You’re not very fast,” he commented.

“Y-you!” I growled under my breath. “You’re a jerk!”

“Why? Because I refuse to let you go off by yourself and get yourself killed?” He pulled me a bit closer. “Besides, aren’t you hungry? Let’s go get some breakfast.”

I sighed. “Ugh. Fine. We’ll get food. Then I’m ditching you.”

He grinned. “You can try, sure, but look how that’s ended up so far.”

Rolling my eyes, I turned away from him, and led him through the big doors in the center of the far wall, under the balcony the stairs connected to. A long, white hallway, and the second door on the left was the dining room. Through the dining room, the kitchen, but I never really went in there.

The dining room was a large room, with white, shining tiles, pale cream walls with white gold veins running through it, making it look like marble. In the center of the room was the table. It was a long, white marble table with pale gold veins, and matching chairs with slightly off-white cushions. Above the middle of the table hung the crystal chandelier. It glowed bright with white fire.

I walked to the rope hanging on the wall that, when pulled, called the servants, and pulled it before sitting at the dining table.

Zairyn sat next to me. “We usually just have someone waiting in the living room.”

“We usually just eat together, so mostly everyone’s in here at the same time.” I yawned. “But either we’re up early, or late, or I don’t know.”

“Late, actually. Your mother tried to wake you up three times. I let you sleep.”

I cast a glare at him, but before I could say anything, one of the servants came through the kitchen doors. “Yes, Princess?”

“I would like something for breakfast. Maybe, uh, a parfait, and some sweet puffs? And Venberry juice.”

Zairyn scoffed. “’Parfait’?” he repeated, shaking his head. “Don’t you guys have cotran and erko sauce?”

I didn’t know what that was. “No?”

“We can make some, My Lord,” the servant said, bowing.

“Awesome. That’s what I want, with some eggs, any kind, I don’t care. And some Fierberry juice, if you have any.”

“We do, My Lord.”

He grinned. “Great. Thanks!”

She smiled slightly, curtsying. “Your food will be ready momentarily, My Lord, My Lady.” She scurried off.

I sighed. “Usually, when I call on a servant, I give them little baubles as payment. Mama doesn’t know I do it still, but she caught me doing it once, and got so angry at me.” I shuddered. “I don’t understand why it’s such a bad thing that I give them small things like firestones, waterstones, earthstones, and airstones. It’s not like I’m giving them starstones.” I shrugged. “Even if I _did_ give them starstones, what’s the big deal? They do all the work around here--don’t they deserve something in return?”

He smiled at me, tilting his head. “You’re just like your father. He does the same thing, but he’s real sneaky about it. I almost didn’t catch him the first couple times.”

“You read his mind to find out, didn’t you?”

“No, not really. Believe it or not, I actually learn things about people without reading their minds. I just watch them.”

The servants came in, carrying platters. One platter was sat in front of me, and the other in front of Zairyn. “Enjoy your meals, My Lady, My Lord.” They bowed again, leaving the room.

Zairyn lifted the dome off his plate, and I saw a sort of dark meat, with a red sauce over it, and what looked like ferilin eggs, with red yolks. He cut into his eggs, taking a big bite. “Mm,” he groaned, nodding, “that’s good.” He cut the meat and eggs up, then picked up the glass of red-colored juice. His eyes closed, and he took a deep drink before setting it back down. “That’s my favorite drink. Want to try?” He held the glass out to me.

I hesitated, but decided why not, and handed him my glass to try as I took his glass. He took a drink, and I slowly sipped at his. My mouth burnt instantly, and the juice felt like fire all the way down my throat. I sat it down, reaching for my glass quickly. I downed half my drink before the taste faded, and I put the glass down. “That’s hot!”

He took the glass. “Really? I don’t think it’s that hot. The cotran is much hotter.”

I stared at the meat, then shuddered. “I never want to try that, then. My mouth would catch on fire.”

“My mother always jokes that the Lightnings are such good fire-breathers because we eat such hot foods.” He smiled. “I don’t think hot foods really helps you breathe fire, but maybe she’s right.”

“ _I_ almost breathed fire after that!”

He laughed. “Sorry, maybe I should’ve warned you, but I know our planet is known for its spicy foods.”

“ _Foods,_ maybe, but _juice?_ ”

“ _Fierberries_ are called _fierberries_ for a reason,” he said, laughing still.

“That’s kinda terrifying,” I said, biting into my sweet puffs. “These are much better.”

He shook his head. “My trainer says it’s better to eat protein in the morning, than to eat something light and fluffy.” He eyed my breakfast, then shook his head. “You need more protein. At least have some eggs or something.”

“I can’t eat eggs. I’m allergic.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Besides, this kinda food isn’t that filling to me, anyway.” The servants knew at this point to put the real food in my juice. The blood that was always put in my juice was the real meal for me. The parfait and sweet puffs were more for taste.

“Oh, yea, I knew about that. Your blood-drinking.”

I dropped the sweet puff to turn to stare at him. “Wh-what?”

“I know about your blood-drinking, and I know that you have wings, and can’t control them. Those things were some of the first things your dad told me about you.” He sipped at his drink. “Most Demons have to drink blood, or devour souls or energy to keep themselves healthy. The Lightnings survive on blood, like you, so it’s not that big a deal to me.”

I blinked, swallowed. “Y-you drink blood, too?”

A nod. “Of course. I’m a Demon.”

I’d never known anyone else but me who drank blood. “D-do you die without it?”

“Yes, I would, if I go long enough without it.”

“How do you get your blood?”

He smiled slightly. “I’ll tell you if you tell me.”

Hesitation stopped me from answering him. “Why do you want me to tell you? You can probably read it from my mind.”

“Oh, I could. Definitely. But I’d rather hear you say it, than read your mind again.”

“Why?”

“Because, maybe saying it aloud to someone, you’ll realize it’s not something that you should be ashamed of. Mind you, though, I guarantee I get my blood in a much different way.”

“My dad set up a sort of blood donation service, but I have this . . . t _hing_ with blood. So my dad set up a way to give me the proteins and nutrition I needed from blood, without giving me the other side effects. Basically, kinda like vegetarian blood.”

A small nod. “Yea, that’s what I figured. I get my blood from the real source. Unlike you, since you’re only part Demon, I can’t feed through vegetarian blood. That would probably kill me. So I have to drink real blood. I get it by hunting. My trainer helps.”

“H-hunting?” My eyes widened. “D-do you kill anyone?”

He shook his head. “No, of course I wouldn’t kill someone, but I do feed off of people. They don’t die, but they also don’t remember it.”

“How do they not remember it?”

A smiling, kinda smug look passed over his face. “Part of the process, Selehevi. Part of the process.”

“Really?”

“Maybe sometime, I’ll take you hunting, and show you what I mean.”

My eyes widened. I recoiled slightly. “I-I probably couldn’t hunt. It would be too weird.”

“Trust me, once you tried it, you’d probably never go back to the vegetarian blood.”

“I’ve fed off real people before, so I know what you mean,” I confided softly, “but I’d rather not hurt anyone.”

“My trainer knows how to do it so it doesn’t hurt anyone. He says I’ll learn it, but not until I’m older.”

“It doesn’t hurt?”

He shook his head. “I saw him feed once, and the woman he fed on seemed to really enjoy it.”

I blinked. “Well, that’s weird.”

A slight nod. “That’s what I thought, too, but when I asked him, he said that’s how it usually goes when you’re older, when you learn to control it.”

I finished eating and drinking my breakfast in silence, not wanting to continue the talk of hunting and feeding off real people. Mostly because my curiosity was piqued more than it should’ve been.

“We can go to the Waterfall Place again. Do some swimming. I can start teaching you to swim.”

I glanced at him. “I don’t want to learn to swim.”

“But you have to.” His voice softened. “Selehevi, it will one day come down to that, to swimming, to save your life. Would you rather learn now, or drown?”

“I’m afraid of water.”

He placed his hand over mine. “Trust me, yea? I’ve got you.” He stood. “Ready to go?”

I hesitated. “You know I don’t like you, right?”

A slight nod. “But that won’t stop me from trying to win you over.” He walked toward the door, and I reluctantly followed him. “Let’s go swim, and have fun. Maybe we’ll meet Xtro there again!”

Okay, that was something I could look forward to. I followed him out of the dining room. Twenty or so minutes later, we were pushing through the bushes, to the Waterfall Place.

“This place is actually really beautiful. We don’t have anything like this on Zashokt, but our palace gardens are beautiful.” He smiled, moving toward the pond, stripping his shirt off. “This time, I’m not getting my clothes wet.” He stripped the pants off, revealing black shorts under his clothes. “What about you?”

I hesitated, but slid my pants off, throwing them next to his. “I can’t take my shirt off.”

“I know.” He held his hand out to me. “Just come with me, into the water. I won’t make you go deep, not this time.”

Hesitantly, I took his hand, and let him pull me into the water. Ankle-deep, knee-deep, thigh-deep, and I stopped. “No further,” I panted, already feeling panic set in.

Zairyn turned toward me, still holding my hand. After a moment, he yanked me toward him, and the water was suddenly hip-deep. I gasped, and he wrapped his arms around me. “Just a little deeper,” he said softly. “Just a little.” Arms around me, he stepped backward, deeper into the water, deeper again. Until the water was chest-high.

I was panting, clinging to him, eyes closed. “No deeper, please. Please. Stop here.”

He stopped, arms still around me. “Just hold onto me, trust me. I’ve got you. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. I promise.”

Eyes still closed, I clung to his shoulders, face against his shoulder. “Just right here. Okay? Please?”

“Right here. We’ll stop right here. We’ll just stand right here, just for a little bit, and then we’ll get out. I promise.”

“How long?”

“Until you overcome your fear enough to look around and take one step away from me.”

I shivered, clenching my eyes closed. “D-do I have to?”

“Yes, Selehevi. At least open your eyes. If you open your eyes, and look around, I’ll let you get out.”

I was still shivering. “I c-can’t.”

“Yes, you can, really. I’m right here.”

My eyes slowly opened. The water was clear, beautiful, and I closed my eyes again, clinging tighter to Zairyn. “I can’t!”

“You can.”

My shivering worsened, but I forced myself to open my eyes, to look around. The water was still beautiful. “Okay,” my voice was as shaky as I was, “I looked around, can we get out now?”

“Take one step away from me.”

My eyes flashed up to his. “Wh-what!? You said look around!”

“I said look around and take one step away.”

“I-I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. Trust yourself. Trust me. I’m not going to let you get hurt.” His arms fell away from me, and I whimpered. “Step away.”

I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself. “I’m scared.”

“I know. I’ve got you. Trust me, and step away.”

Eyes closing, I took one step backward, and shivered harder. “O-okay. I stepped back.”

“Now open your eyes.”

My eyes opened. I looked around again. “Okay. C-can we get out now? Please?”

He stepped back toward me, and wrapped his arms around me again. “Back, back, back,” he coached as he stepped toward me.

I didn’t stop shivering until I was out of the water. My heart was pounding, and I felt like my skin was crawling. “I hate water.”

“But you survived, didn’t you? You’re alive. Do you feel any better now?” he asked, walking back to grab his clothes.

 _Actually, kinda. . . ._ “But not much.”

“That’s okay. You won’t feel fully better until you’ve actually started to learn to swim. For now,” he grinned, and gestured to the cliff, pulling the shirt on first, “let’s start climbing, yea?” Once fully dressed, he ran to the cliff.

I grabbed my pants, pulled them on, then followed him, feeling my heart stop pounding slowly, and started to climb after him. Pushing myself faster, I wanted to beat him to the top, but he was faster than I was. He reached the top before I did, and turned to wait. When I pulled myself over, I sighed. “What are we going to do up here, anyway?”

“I’m going to jump once or twice, then we can train.” He grinned at me. “Spar or something, see how far your training has come.”

“I-I really haven’t started training much. Daddy said he was going to start my training when I turned five, and I just turned five today.”

“Well, I’ll start training you!” He walked to the edge. “It’ll be fun.”

“It’s about damn time you’re alone.”

The voice sent shivers down my spine. I whirled toward the forest. “Who’s there?”

A man stepped out of the woods. He was short, and kinda pudgy, bald. “I’ve been tracking you two for awhile, ever since I learned of your reincarnation. You have no idea how much people have offered to pay me for your bodies.” He grinned. “Zairyn Lekhrsho, a child. Once upon a time, you were older than I was. Do you remember that at all?”

Zairyn stepped between me and the man. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Reincarnation?”

He laughed, throwing his head back. “So you really don’t know anything? I used to work for you, but now that you’re a child again, even _I_ can take you out.” He stroked his chin. “I never would’ve found you, if not for the tip. I thought it was just a fairytale, but when I heard from _her,_ I knew it wasn’t fake.”

“You’re crazy,” I spat out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it’s obvious you’re crazy!”

“Still such a rebel, huh, Selehevi? Hm. It doesn’t matter now. The point is, I’ve found you. Once I finish you off and take your bodies in, I’ll be paid.” He reached his hand forward.

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. It felt like something, or someone, was crushing my throat. There were invisible fingers crushing my windpipe.

“Selehevi?” Zairyn looked back at me. “H-hey, Se! Se, talk to me!”

I clawed at the invisible hands at my throat, collapsing to my knees. The hands seemed to tighten around my throat, and my eyes closed.

Zairyn growled. “Oh, no, this is _not_ happening. If you think you can take me out just because I’m a kid, you’ve _no idea_ what you’re getting into!” I opened my eyes enough to see Zairyn blow smoke. “Dang it!” he growled. He took a deep breath, put his hands to his mouth, and blew smoke again. With a desperate look back at me, he took another deep breath, holding it.

The man laughed. “Can’t do it anymore, can you? Can’t blow that oh, so famous fire!”

He blew fire as the guy laughed at him, catching the guy’s arm on fire. The man screamed, and the feeling in my throat lifted. I could breathe, and Zairyn glanced back at me. “I may have trouble blowing fire,” he said, taking a step forward and looking at the man, “but you know something I’m really good at?” He threw his hands forward. Flames shot from one hand, and Lekhrsho from the other. The two combined so that the flames had Lekhrsho strikes curling around the fire.

The man threw his hands out, and a dark green haze followed his hands. The green haze met the flaming Lekhrsho strikes. “You can’t beat me with your minuscule power!” The green haze started pushing the flames back.

Zairyn growled. “You don’t know much about the Lekhrsho family, do you, you bastard?”

“What’s that mean?”

“We improve under pressure!” He stepped forward, and a giant gust of flames and Lekhrsho flew from his hands. The flames suddenly stopped, and Zairyn ducked, dodging the green haze. A fireball formed in his hand. He threw it at the man, then dodged another dark green attack. This attack hit the tree behind Zairyn, and I watched the tree melt.

I caught my breath. _Oh, I don’t like him, but that doesn’t mean I want him to die!_ “Zairyn, don’t let that mist hit you! It melted the tree!”

Zairyn glanced back at me, then at the tree. “Got it!” He dodged another attack, and another fireball formed in his hand. He threw it, missing again, but the tree behind the guy began to smoke.

And I realized, Zairyn wasn’t trying to hit the guy. I watched, eyes widening, as Zairyn dodged another attack, and threw another fireball, hitting the same tree. The tree was smoking. After the sixth hit, he started to circle the man, and the man followed suit. He threw another fireball, forcing the guy to move more. “Selehevi, you need to follow me, now!”

I blinked, then jolted to my feet. I ran to Zairyn, standing behind him. “What are you doing? You’re missing!”

“Just trust me!” He wrapped his arm around me and took me with him as he jumped to the side to avoid another hit.

“Trust him, the kid? Sure, as an adult, Zairyn was a hell of an opponent, but as a kid?! The kid’s too sweet, too kind, too _naive_ to do what must be done!” He threw another attack. “The only reason he’s still alive right now is that I find this mildly amusing!”

Zairyn smirked. “So do I,” he said softly, “or you’d be dead, too!”

“Keep talking big, big guy! You’ll never grow into those words! Not with that bounty on your head!”

Zairyn jerked. “Bounty?” He blinked. “What do you mean?”

The man laughed. “You and Selehevi, and her sisters, and your brother? You all have a bounty on your heads. Especially now that we all know you’re alive. Sure, you would probably be a good partner once you grow up, but right now, I need the bounty, and I’m not waiting for you to grow up to collect!” He laughed. “Though I do have to admit, I made way more when I worked for you, but after you betrayed me to _them_ , I don’t care anymore! This is almost more about revenge than the bounty!”

He glanced at me. “I don’t know what this guy is talking about, but he’s about to die.”

“What makes you so certain of that?” I asked, voice soft.

“Trust me.” He yelled to the guy, “What’s the bounty, how much is it?”

“Enough for me to eat for years.”

“And you say you know me; how do you know me?”

He laughed. “You’ve no memory of it, but I worked with you a long time ago, for a damn long time. You betrayed me for that bitch standing beside you now. It’s ironic, to think how it ended! It’s almost worth forgiving you, but after all you did--it’s not enough.” He threw another attack.

Zairyn pulled me to the side again. “Almost, just gotta distract him for a second. Selehevi,” he suddenly looked at me, “run toward him, like you’re going to attack him, then duck as soon as I tell you to duck.”

“Are you crazy? If that mist hits me-!”

“It won’t. Just trust me.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay. Fine. If you get me killed. . . .”

“Understood. Go!”

I ran at him. “I’m going to end this!”

The man laughed at me. “Oh, really? Is that so?” He held his hand up. “We’ll see about that.” The green mist formed in his hand.

“Don’t laugh at me!”

“Selehevi,” Zairyn called, just as the man let the attack fly, “hit the dirt. Now!”

I hit hard, and Zairyn flashed past me, through the green mist. His shirt melted, and I watched burns appear on his chest, but he kept moving.

The man’s eyes widened. “Wh-what?!”

All I could see was Zairyn’s back. Blisters had appeared, but he didn’t seem to notice or care much about them. He thrust his hand forward, and all I heard was a sickening squelching sound.

I closed my eyes when he started to scream, covering my face with my hands. There was a bright flash that I could see even through my fingers, but I kept my eyes closed.

“You can look now,” Zairyn said when the screams ended.

I peeked through my fingers, slowly, carefully. The man was lying on the ground, and I could see his eyes were wide, mouth open, and throat was torn. My eyes flashed up to Zairyn, expecting to see blood on his mouth.

No, his hands were coated in blood. He was carelessly wiping the blood off on his pants, like it didn’t even matter.

I stood slowly. “Wh-what just happened?”

“When he throws that mist, it takes him a second to recover, but he was always moving before. I turned us around until he was at the edge of the cliff,” he gestured to the edge, “with nowhere to go. I bet that he wouldn’t jump to get away, and I was right.” He stared over the edge of the cliff for a few seconds silently. “When he threw that last mist attack, and I knew he had nowhere to go, I just went through it, and tore his throat out. You were the distraction so he didn’t realize he’d stepped to the edge, and by the time he realized he had nowhere to go, he was already dying.”

_That’s why you kept hitting the tree, and not the guy._

He nodded. “Right. That’s why I never aimed at him, because I knew, I don’t know how, but I knew, the flames weren’t going to get through the mist, and the only way I was going to kill him was going to be through a full frontal assault.” He kicked the body slightly. “It felt like that was what he deserved, anyway.”

I stared at him, a little frightened. “Yo-you just killed a man, and yo-you aren’t acting like you really care?”

He looked at me. “He tried to kill you, Selehevi. What do you want me to say, to do? Cry, and scream, and lament what I’ve done? If I hadn’t acted as I had, you wouldn’t be alive right now.”

That slowly sank in. The fact that this guy had actually tried--and almost succeeded--to kill me. I blinked a couple times. “B-but, doesn’t it, y’know, bother you that you just killed him?”

He glanced down at the body. “Not really, no. My trainer says not to be bothered by little things.”

_Little things? Killing someone is a little thing?_

“Killing someone who tried to kill you, and bragged about a bounty on our heads, is a little thing.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t like I was going to be able to talk him out of killing us, was I?”

I walked closer. I think what bothered me most about the killing was the fact that I wasn’t as disgusted by it as I felt I should be. I felt like I should’ve been running for the hills, screaming, but I was calm. Too calm. It was kind of scary.

“That’s a calm you’ll need, if you ever go into a battle.” He studied me, head tilted. “It feels weird, actually. Killing him. Almost like, almost like he deserved it. Almost like there was a reason beyond his threatening us. Like there’s something he did that justified the death, besides trying to kill us just now.”

“What did he mean, reincarnate?” I asked, tilting my head. “You must’ve read his mind.”

He nodded. “I did, but what I saw in there wasn’t reassuring. The man was clearly crazy. There’s no doubt about it. There was some mist in his mind, some sort of cloud hovering over it. Like a poison. It was effecting his thoughts, his personality. Like someone had poisoned his mind.”

“Is that possible?”

Another nod. “It’s actually very possible to poison someone’s mind. It’s not that hard at all. It turns them crazy, and incomprehensible. They become liked crazed animals, spouting nonsense.”

I looked at the body again. “Like he was.”

“Right. Like he was.” He knelt by the body. “I think I’ll have to tell big brother that some crazy guy attacked us. He won’t be too happy.”

I walked a bit closer, staring at the body. “You didn’t drink his blood.”

He looked up at me. “No, because his blood is poisoned by the mist that he controlled, and the poison that ran through his mind was also in his blood. I could smell it, like rotting flesh in his mind, in his blood. You have to be careful what types of blood you drink. A lot of them are poisonous.”

“Poisonous?”

A nod. “Like, for example, Mimic’s blood. If you drink that, it’ll kill you. It melts your insides.”

I winced, shuddering. Something about hearing that made my stomach hurt. “Mimic’s blood. Sounds painful.”

“And drinking Angelic blood, for instance, would also kill you.” He shrugged, and stood. “Well, maybe not you, depending on the amount of Angelic blood you drink, and whether or not your Demonic blood is active.”

That was the second time I’d heard that phrase. “Active, what does that mean?”

He tilted his head again. “You’re not a full Demon. That means, your Demonic blood can stay dormant for awhile. It doesn’t mean you’re not still Demonic during dormant periods, but it does give you an edge against more Angelic beings. When your Demonic blood is active, it probably strengthens you, gives you stronger abilities or something, but it also makes Angelic blood much more dangerous to you.” He moved toward me, then winced, touching the burns on his chest. “Actually, kinda hurts now that the danger’s passed. . . .”

I hesitated a second. “I. . . . Remember how I said, my blood, it’s weird? Something like that. Well, uh. . . .” I closed my eyes and held out my wrist. “Drink.”

I heard him come closer. “I know. Your blood heals.” He took my wrist into his hands, and bit down. The pain was immediate, sharp, and constant. He took one swallow, two swallows, then pulled back, licking his lips. “That’s dangerous,” he growled.

“D-dangerous?”

“Your blood taste, it’s very delicious.”

I blinked. “That’s bad?”

“Kinda. It made it hard for me to stop drinking.” The burns on his chest healed quickly, and he took a deep breath, patting his chest. “That feels so much better. Thanks, Selehevi.” He walked back to the edge of the cliff. “I think I’ll go get big brother, let him know about the crazy guy that attacked us.”

I went to stand by him. “Might not be such a bad idea.”

Zairyn suddenly tensed. He whirled, and I turned slowly. Walking away from me, he turned his head every which way. “You smell that? Something’s about to-”

A bright gold ball of energy flew out from the trees, hitting Zairyn. He was knocked back, off his feet, and another ball of energy came directly behind that ball. It hit me, hit my shoulder. My shoulder gave way, and I felt the energy cutting into my skin, cutting deep. Blood gushed to the surface. But that wasn’t the scary part.

The scary part was I was thrown backward, and off the cliff. I hovered there for a second, and another golden ball hit my chest. I gasped. It burnt, and I felt my skin tear. Zairyn sat up, staring at me, and I fell.

A scream fell from me. I tried to remember how I’d gotten my wings to work, but I couldn’t seem to figure it out. Nothing stretched in my back, nothing moved, and nothing cut the skin open. Instead, I just fell.

I heard yells, and grunts, as I fell, and knew that whatever had knocked me over the edge was attacking Zairyn, and I also knew, I was on my own. I hit the water hard. The shock of hitting the water coupled with the pain of my shoulder hitting hard made me gasp, only I wasn’t gasping for air. Water filled my lungs, and I sank. I kicked my legs, tried to stay above, but the force of my fall had caused the water to ripple, waves rolling dangerously over my head. Water filling my lungs already, I beat at the surface, kicking my legs hard.

I sank. Deeper and deeper, despite my struggles. My lungs were burning; my throat raw. I kicked to the surface again, but the waves pushed me straight back down. I realized that the waves weren’t mine. I was directly under the waterfall. I tried to move away from it, tried to swim, but my uncoordinated body couldn’t, and I was losing energy. I wasn’t strong enough to fight against the strong current the waterfall created, and I wasn’t strong enough to fight to the surface.

I sank further, and my lungs were burning. My brain screamed to try to breathe, but when I did, I just sucked down more water. My mouth opened and closed, trying to breathe despite the logical part of me saying it was stupid. My lungs filled, and filled, and blackness ate at my vision. There was a distant splash, and something dark moving through the water.

Darkness descended over my vision. It almost looked like two black eyes. . . .

 

_He kicked under the water, headed straight for her._ Dammit, _he cursed, diving deeper._ This water is deeper than I thought it was. _He reached her just as her eyes closed._ Dammit, Selehevi, stay with me! _He wrapped his arms around her and kicked off against the ground, propelling them both toward the surface. His head broke through the surface, only to be pushed back down by the waterfall._

Dammit! _He cursed again, and swam off to the side, knowing he had to get her above water as soon as he could. The second he was freed from the waterfall, he broke through to the surface, pulling Selehevi with him. He swam quickly toward the shore, pushed her out of the water, and climbed out after her. “Don’t you dare give up on me!” He growled. “Dammit, Selehevi, open your eyes!” He pressed down on her chest, counting silently to himself._

Dammit, I can’t remember how many times to do it!

_He cupped his hand over her nose, held her mouth open, and breathed into her. “Come on, Se! Open your eyes! Wake up!” He pressed on her chest again, wincing when he saw the blood pouring through her shirt. “Come on, come on! Don’t make me do all the work! Come back to me, Se. Don’t you dare leave me like this!” He breathed into her again, and again, cursing all the while. “Dammit! Don’t you dare! You can’t give up on me! Don’t make me do all the work! Breathe, dammit, breathe!”_

_Suddenly, she coughed, sputtering up water. Zairyn turned her to her side, hitting her back hard as more water bubbled up from her lungs. She coughed hard, throwing up more water than he thought she could’ve swallowed, then was still again. Not breathing. He lay her on her back, checked her breathing, and cursed. “Dammit! You were just awake, don’t you dare!” He pressed on her chest, hard, again, and again, and again, then breathed into her. “Don’t you leave me!”_

_Once more, she coughed, and her eyes fluttered. A small whimper came from her. He lifted her into his lap, holding her against his chest. “It’s okay, Selehevi. Just open your eyes. Let me see your eyes. Look at me. Please.”_

_Her eyes fluttered, and he caught a glimpse of those white eyes. She coughed again, her small body shaking with the force, and fell silent._

_Panic built in him. He waved his hand over her nose. She wasn’t breathing again. “Breathe!” he yelled at her, shaking her._

_A giant, shaking breath was his answer._

_“Don’t you dare give up on me now, Selehevi Waenshoare. Don’t you dare!”_

 

 _“Dammit,” I heard dimly. There was fog everywhere. Everything was dark. Yet I kept hearing someone curse._ Mama would be so unhappy if she heard that language, _I thought to myself._

_“Don’t you dare give up on me!” He growled. “Dammit, Selehevi, open your eyes!”_

_Open my eyes? My eyes felt so heavy, though. . . . It was so dark, and kinda peaceful, but frightening at the same time. There was no pain, and that, that I felt I would feel again if I tried to open my eyes, so why would I open my eyes?_

_Someone was pressing on my chest. Something wet, and warm, pressed to my mouth, and I felt air being forced into my body. My lungs responded, and I became aware of the burning in them._

_“Don’t make me do all the work!” He’d been talking all along, but I could barely hear him. “Dammit, Selehevi, don’t you give up on me!”_

Give up? I’m not giving up. I’m just going to sleep for awhile. . . .

_“Wake up, dammit!”_

That language. Mama would kill you.

_More air. My lungs ached again. I didn’t want to respond._

_Then I felt something coming up my throat. I had an awful urge to cough, and when I did, something gushed from my mouth. I couldn’t breathe--not that I could before, but now it was frightening me. Someone turned me over to my side, began to beat on my back, and I coughed again, and again, throwing up something liquid._

Pond water, _I remembered._ Water, from the pond. I swallowed it when I went under.

_My lungs were aching now. Worse, so was my throat. And my nose burnt. My shoulder hurt, and my chest hurt. I could feel something else leaking from me. Felt like I was bleeding, but I couldn’t be, could I?_

_Then it started to go dim again. The pain faded, and the burning faded, and I wanted it to. Oh, I so wanted it to._

_“Don’t you dare!” More air was forced into me._

Just stop it. I don’t want to be in pain. Stop forcing me to breathe! _I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to force whoever it was forcing me to breathe to stop, and let me leave._

_But he kept breathing into me until my lungs demanded oxygen. Every breath hurt. Every movement hurt. I didn’t want to breathe. Didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to exist. But here I was, my lungs forcing me to fill them with oxygen, though all I wanted was for the pain to stop._

Why couldn’t you leave things alone?

_I was lifted, cradled against someone’s chest. I know it was a chest only because I could hear a heartbeat. A comforting heartbeat, even as it raced along. I became more aware of my own sluggish heart, and my lungs started to burn more._

_Someone was shaking me. “Breathe!”_

_I took a deep breath, and it burnt all the way down._

_“Don’t you dare give up on me now, Selehevi Waenshoare! Don’t you dare!”_

_And suddenly, I remembered who the disembodied voice belonged to, and it was no longer disembodied. I started to remember where I was, and how I’d gotten there. My eyes fluttered, and I struggled to open them. “C-c-cold,” I choked out. My voice sounded rough._

_“Don’t move,” Zairyn said, laying me on the ground. He was gone for a few seconds before I felt something sliding up my legs. Pants. He hesitated. “I have to bind your wounds, Selehevi. Please don’t get angry with me for what I’m about to do.”_

_I coughed, and, for a second, it seemed like everything paused. When I was fully aware again, he was wrapping something around my chest. There was already something wrapped around my shoulder. I could feel it. “C-c-cold,” I repeated._

_“I know, I know. It’s going to be okay. As soon as I bind your wounds, I’ll help you warm up, and we’ll go home, okay? We’ll go home. I just need to make sure you don’t bleed to death before you do. Just stay with me. Keep talking. Open your eyes.”_

_I struggled to open my eyes, managing to get a glimpse of him just barely. His hair was mussed, hanging over his face, into his eyes, water dripping from his hair into his face. His black, black eyes were worried, lips set in a thin, worried line. I wanted to laugh. This was the most scared I’d seen him so far. He’d jumped through acid, killed a man, and now? When I’m the one injured, he was terrified._

_“Of course,” he said softly. “Haven’t you realized that by now? I’m only trying to protect you, Selehevi, and right now, I’m failing. You got hurt.” He pulled something tight over my chest, and I gasped. The pain from that was almost unbearable. “You’re lying there, barely able to move, having almost drowned, all because I suggested we come out here. This is all my fault.”_

_“C-c-cold,” I repeated._

_“I know. It’s almost over. I’ll build a small fire, and we’ll get you warm, and we’ll go home. You’ll go take a nice, hot shower,” the thought made me panic, “and we’ll go to bed. Okay? How does that sound?”_

Didn’t we just get out of bed? Why am I so exhausted?

_“You just nearly died, Se. You need to give yourself credit. You survived a pretty high fall, after being hit twice, and survived nearly drowning.”_

Because you wouldn’t let me die.

_“Not gonna complain that I’m reading your mind?”_

_I wanted to shake my head._ Not when it means I don’t have to talk.

_He chuckled slightly. “Yea, I bet your throat really hurts, doesn’t it?”_

I’m really cold.

_“I know. I’m almost done. Just this last one.” He pulled something tight again, and I whimpered. “I know it hurts. It’ll be okay. I promise.” He lifted me, slid something over my head, pulled my arms through the holes. “It’s my shirt. It’ll help you get warm.” He pulled me closer to his body. “I’m a Fire and Lekhrsho Demon. I’m always warm, hot enough to boil the skin and brain of a normal creature. I’ll get you warm real fast.”_

_He was warm. So warm. I wanted to cling to him, but I couldn’t seem to move my limbs enough to do so. Instead, I just let him hold me, let my head fall against his chest._ Why didn’t you just let me die?

_“Why do you want me to?”_

It hurts.

_“I know it hurts right now, but I promise, I’m going to make it all better. I promise that.”_

What if whoever tried to kill me tries again?

_“I’ll kill them, just like I killed that man.”_

So you didn’t catch them?

_“No. I’m sorry, and I’m sorry I didn’t jump sooner. Something kept hitting me and throwing me back from the edge. I kept trying, and trying, and couldn’t until I tricked them. I ran at them, and made them think I was coming for them, and then used every bit of my speed to throw myself over the cliff.” A small sound came from him. “Whoever it was tried to push me back onto the cliff with a blast, but it didn’t work.”_

It’s not your fault.

_“It is my fault. If I hadn’t suggested we come here-”_

I would’ve come here, anyway, to get away from you.

_A small chuckle. “And then you would’ve definitely died. That convinces me more that I should never let you out of my sight.”_

Or maybe it’s your fault I keep getting into trouble?

_“Somehow, Selehevi, somehow, I doubt that. I doubt that very much.” He shifted, then stood with me still in his arms. “Let’s go home.”_

_I nodded weakly, and he started walking. Forcing my eyes open, I looked toward the cliff, blinking several times to clear the haze._

_And I was almost positive I saw Kadra standing at the edge._


	3. Reoccur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zairyn grabbed my hand. “Let’s go eat!” This time, because I had a feeling that he was doing it specifically to get away from her, I let him pull me down the hallway, past Kadra, and to the doors leading to the grand entrance hall. He still stayed between me and Kadra, even stepping back a little when we reached the doors and letting me go through first. He didn’t speak again until we were nearing the dining room. “I saw her, too,” he said softly. “At least, I thought I did.”
> 
> Chills ran through my body. “Wh-what?”
> 
> “That image, in your head? That first one, of a watery face peering over the cliff?” I gave him a look, and his face reddened. “The weird thing is, that was my memory. When I was pulling you out of the water, I looked up, and I saw her standing at the edge, looking down at us. At least, I think it was her. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I was just seeing things. But that image you saw in your mind was my memory, and I was thinking of it when you saw it. I don’t know how you saw it, but maybe I projected it to you. I don’t know, I’ll have to ask my trainer.”
> 
> “Y-you think she’s the one who attacked, too?”

My head hurt, and my lungs were burning. My throat felt raw, like I’d swallowed burning flames. I tried to swallow, but my mouth felt like cotton. A groan fell from me, and I tried to shake my head.

“Selehevi?” The bed shifted, and I opened my eyes slowly. Zairyn was leaning over me. “You’re awake! Are you okay? How do you feel? Does your throat hurt? Can you move? Try to sit up.”

I obeyed reluctantly, and a sharp pain in my shoulder and chest made me fall back to my pillow, gasping. “I-it hu-hurts,” I ground out. My voice sounded like I’d been gargling nails.

A small nod, and he pursed his lips. “That’s what I figured.” He scooted away from me, reaching over for something on the bedside table. Then paused, and turned back toward me. “I’m going to help you sit up, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He slid his arm under my shoulders, started to lift me up. My shoulder and chest protested, and I winced, whimpering. He pulled me against his side, keeping one arm around me, and reached toward the bedside table to grab something again. A cup. There was a bandage on his wrist.

“Wh-what happened?”

He glanced at me, then shifted both of us. “I injured myself when I jumped off the cliff,” he explained in a low voice.

Something about that felt off, but I shrugged it off. “What is that?” My voice was harsh, soft. _Dang it._

“This is a family remedy. It’ll heal you right up.” He offered it to me, beaming brightly at me.

Something about _that_ felt off. “Okay?” I took it, staring down at it. Dark red liquid, thick. The cup was about half full.

“Drink it.”

I took it to my lips, tipped it back. _It burns! Oh, Gods, it burns!_ I started to throw the cup, but Zairyn cupped his hands over mine, keeping the cup in place.

“Keep drinking. All of it.”

I wanted to punch him. _It burns!_

“I know, but it’ll make everything better.” He tipped the cup back, and I gagged slightly. He paused, waited, and tipped it back further.

It burnt all the way down. Like I was swallowing fire. Like I was drinking Fierberry juice all over again. At least Fierberry juice had a slight sweetness to it. This was bitter and hot. Very hot. The burning spread from my mouth, to my throat, down my chest, and into the rest of my body. Everything burnt. It felt like I was on fire. I tried to push his hands away, push the cup away, but he lifted the cup higher, higher.

He pulled the cup away once it was empty, tossing it onto the bedside table. “Let me know when the burning stops,” he said casually.

If I could open my eyes, I would’ve glared at him. “I thought,” I gasped, “it made it,” deep breath, “ _better!_ ”

He chuckled slightly. “It does, but it’ll burn you until it does. It used to burn me, my mom says, but it didn’t long.”

I clenched my eyes shut tightly, nails digging into the heel of my hand. The burning spread to my feet, but once it reached my feet, it seemed to recoil. It was almost like the fire was being sucked back in, toward my chest, and my shoulder, and my throat, and my lungs. As it was pulled back in, however, the burning worsened.

I could hear soft whimpers, and for a second, I tried to deny that they came from me. I dug my nails deeper, curling into a ball on my side. “Hurts,” I whimpered.

“I know. It’ll be over soon.”

The burn became harsher, almost unbearable, and I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Pants, and whimpers, as the fire burnt hotter, hotter--then just vanished. It didn’t fade away. It just was gone.

But there was a slight pain at my wrist. I realized someone--most likely Zairyn--was holding my wrist up. It took a couple seconds before I also realized he’d bitten into my wrist. My eyes opened. He was watching me. When I met his eyes, he pulled back, licked his lips clean of blood, and winced. “Better?” His body jerked, and he closed his eyes. His hands clenched into fists, and he breathed deeply. “It’s never burnt that way for me,” he said softly. “I knew it was going to hurt you more, but I didn’t think it would hurt that much.”

The pain was gone. The burning was gone. The only pain I had was the slight sting of my wrist, where he’d bitten me. I sat straighter up, expecting to have pain from my shoulder and chest, but there was none. “What did you do?”

He was still breathing evenly, eyes still closed, fists still clenched. “I took your pain.”

I blinked. “Yo-you did what?”

His eyes opened. There was a slight flicker in them that betrayed his pain, but he held my eyes steadily and spoke as though nothing hurt. “I bit you, and took on your pain, so you wouldn’t hurt anymore.”

“Why-why would you do that?” My voice was soft again, slightly breathy.

“Because you were in pain, and I couldn’t watch you suffer.”

“But now _you’re_ suffering, aren’t you?”

He gave a halfhearted half-smile, wincing slightly. “I’m fine. Really.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

He winced again. “It hurts,” he admitted, “but I’m better able to handle it.”

Indignation flared in me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Another halfhearted half-smile. “It means what I said.”

“That I’m weak?”

He reached over, took my hand, holding it tightly. Tightly enough I wanted to pull away. “I’d never think of you as weak, Selehevi Waenshoare, and don’t you ever think that you are, or think that I think that.”

I let him hold onto my hand, felt his hand convulse slightly around mine, and realized he was struggling not to squeeze my hand. _If this is him_ not _squeezing my hand, I’d hate to see him squeeze._

His hand convulsed a bit again, loosening. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

I looked up from my hand, to him, remembering that he was a mind-reader. “It’s okay,” I said, smiling, “I can take it.”

His eyes cleared up slowly, and his breathing deepened. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep, long breath, letting it out in a deep sigh. “It’s done.”

I almost wanted to hug him now. “Thank you,” I scooted a little closer, “Zairyn.”

He smiled, meeting my eyes. “Any time, Se.”

 _Se. Nobody calls me Se._ It felt right, though. Familiar.

“You feel better now?”

“I should be asking _you_ that.” For a second, I marveled at his strength. When I’d been under that pain, I’d writhed and whimpered, and tried to scream. He’d just sat there, talking to me calmly. He’d winced a couple times, but I sensed it was more from my words to him than from the pain.

He took another deep breath, then reached forward and grabbed me in a big, tight hug. “I’m just glad you’re okay, Se, so let’s leave it at that,” he said softly, stroking my hair back. Without even waiting for me to hug back--perhaps he knew I wouldn’t, or, rather, _thought_ \--he pulled away, turned, and jumped off the bed. “C’mon. Your parents will be happy to see you up and moving again.” He held his hand out to me.

I shook my head. “I’ll be fine,” I told him, scooting toward the edge. My legs dangled over the edge for a second before I slid off the bed. The plush, black carpeting was soft against my feet, and I wanted to sigh--until my knees collapsed. I fell forward, arms flailing.

Zairyn stepped forward, arms closing around me tightly as he pulled me in against his chest. “Legs asleep, are they?” His voice was soft.

I shrugged. “I’m fine. I just need to move a bit.”

“Then let me help you get your blood circulating.” Arms loosening slightly, he stepped backward. “Step with me.”

I reached out to grab onto his shoulders and forced my legs to move, forced myself to step forward. Another step, another step, and the numbness in my legs started to fade. “I’m fine,” I said as soon as I felt like I could stand on my own. “I’ve got it.”

His eyes met mine. “Are you sure?”

A nod. “I’m sure.”

He let me go slowly, then stepped back.

There was a second where I wobbled, but I righted myself quickly. With a slight shake of my head, I turned toward my bedroom door. I threw my bedroom doors open to step out into the hall.

Zairyn stepped out with me. “I don’t know about you,” he said happily, “but I’m starving!”

I glanced at him, feeling my own stomach rumble. “Me too. I could go with a parfait, and some charbel strips.”

He grinned at me. “So you _do_ eat meat!”

Blinking, I glanced at him again. “Of course?”

“All you’ve eaten around me is a parfait.”

“Mama says it’s impolite to eat big meals in front of guests, but I don’t really care anymore. I’m too hungry to care.”

A door opened. Kadra stepped out of her room, and I froze, breath catching. She smiled when she saw me.

 _Is it my imagination, or is that smile unpleasant?_ A cold chill ran down my spine, and my mouth went dry. Fear, or panic, had my heart pounding. I’d reached back and grabbed Zairyn’s hand without realizing it, squeezing tight.

He wrapped his hand around mine just as tightly. He stepped up beside me, glancing between me and Kadra once. “Hello. I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. My name is-”

“Zairyn Lekhrsho,” Kadra finished, giggling. “Oh, your legend is great. I’ve heard so much about you, and about your family.”

I glanced at him. “Your legend?” My brow raised.

He chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “Uh, yea, I guess there’s a legend about me.”

“What’s the legend, and why haven’t I heard it?”

“Well, my trainer’s really famous, and legendary, so being his pupil just makes me famous, too.”

“Not what I heard,” Kadra gushed, batting her lashes at him. “From what I heard, you burnt down a small village the day you were born, from a temper tantrum, and if it wasn’t for your trainer, you would’ve burnt the entire planet to the ground. That’s how his trainer got to be his trainer.”

Zairyn chuckled again, this time obviously uncomfortable, and glanced at me before focusing his gaze on the floor. His face was red. “Oh, well, _that._. . .”

“Yes, _that._ I’m surprised, Selehevi, that you don’t know anything about it. Apparently Zairyn, when he was born, his power was so great that, when he got angry, it reacted instantly, and burnt the village down. If not for Kiyou’s quick reactions, he would’ve destroyed the planet, because not even his parents could control his power.”

I stared at Zairyn, and he was still staring at the floor. Pulling my hand away from him, I backed up a couple steps. “Y-you killed your people?”

He looked up, eyes widening. “N-no! I-nobody died!”

“But you destroyed their homes! Their village, their homes, their belongings! You destroyed everything they held precious.”

He looked away then. “I-I didn’t mean to. It was-it was an accident.” He took a step toward me, holding his hands up, as if showing he was unarmed. “Look, what happened wasn’t my fault. When I was born, my powers weren’t _powerful_ as much as they were unstable. Uncontrollable. I couldn’t have controlled them if I’d tried, and I was a newborn. A baby.

“My trainer put power restraints on me, to help me control myself. Every birthday, they release one more than last year. Last year, they took off four restraints. This year, they released five. They’ll continue to release my power restraints until I’m eighteen, then they’ll release the rest of them at once.”

My eyes were wide. “H-how many are there on you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. They’ve never told me.”

“Are you really that powerful?” My voice was soft. Breathy. For a second, I could practically smell the fear in my voice.

He shrugged again. “I s’pose. . . . I just have a hard time controlling it, I guess. . . .”

“Are you getting better at it?”

A small, slightly hesitant nod. “I am, especially since my trainer knows what he’s doing. He’s told me stories of this man he helped train a long time ago, before I was born, who had the exact problems I have. He says he wasn’t able to help him the way he can me, because by the time he was able to help the man, he was already losing control, but he learned a lot from watching his struggle. So now he knows how to help me, and I’ve learned a lot, and my control is better.”

“Why wasn’t Selehevi told of this little problem?” Kadra asked sweetly.

Her voice sent chills down my spine. I didn’t know why, but I felt fear from her presence. I looked back at her and saw that when I’d stepped away from Zairyn, I’d stepped closer to her. Even with the building fear I had of Zairyn’s uncontrollable powers, I stepped closer to him, and put more space between me and her.

He glanced up at me, glanced at Kadra, and stepped between me and Kadra. That put me closer to him, but it stilled my pounding heart a bit.

It took a minute for me to remember that he was a mind-reader. He probably knew how I felt, how afraid I was of her. But why, why was I suddenly afraid of my sister?

“I’ve always known about the betrothal of me and Selehevi, and when I was younger, I asked my parents to keep that from her, because. . . . Well, because I hate it when people are afraid of me. That look they get in their eyes when I come near. Everyone I know has that look, except my trainer. They flinch slightly, or look away, or refuse to look me in my eyes--like I’m some sort of monster. I hate that, and I wanted for _one person_ my own age to _not_ be afraid of me.” He stared down at the floor again. “And I was hoping Selehevi would be that one. . . .”

And I felt bad. And insulted. I glared at him. “First of all, mister, I am _not_ afraid of you. Wary of you, perhaps, and angry and disgusted that you destroyed your people’s belongings, but _afraid_ of you? No. Absolutely not. I am in no way afraid of you.” I stepped closer to him, locking my eyes on his. “You don’t have what it takes to scare me, Zairyn Lekhrsho.”

His eyes widened. He blinked a few times, then grinned. “Well, I’ll take anger over fear any day.” A decisive nod. “Yes. Anger. Even disgust. Fine. But, just. . . . Don’t be afraid of me. That’s all I ask. I’m not going to hurt you.” He reached out, grabbed my hand, and the look in his eyes changed. “I promise. I’ll always protect you, and I’ll never let you get hurt, and when you do get hurt, I’ll avenge it, and heal you, and keep you safe.”

Rolling my eyes, I yanked my hand out of his. “I don’t need you to keep me safe. I do that fine all on my own!”

“Yea, sure. _That’s_ why you fell off a cliff, and nearly drowned--all in the same week.” He rolled his own eyes, something I hadn’t yet seen him do. “Let me know when you get better at it, yea?” He grinned again. “Anyway! I’m still hungry. You?”

I nodded. “Yup. Definitely. I want to eat.”

“Being asleep for three days will do that to you,” Kadra remarked offhandedly.

I blinked. “Th-three days?”

She covered her mouth with her hand, yawning, then said, “Yea, after Zairyn carried you home unconscious and bloody, Mother and Father had the medics care for you, and you’ve been unconscious since.”

My eyes locked on Zairyn. He flinched, looking away. “You didn’t tell me I’d been out for three days.”

“I-I didn’t want to scare you! Besides, you’re awake now, and you’re all better now.”

“Oh, _right._ You were hurt, weren’t you?” Her eyes narrowed on me. “What happened to those wounds? It doesn’t seem like you’re moving like you’re in pain.”

“Zairyn made me drink something he called a family remedy, and I’m all better now.” Though that _did_ make me think. A family remedy for a sore throat? Sure. All families had one. A family remedy to heal wounds instantly, without healing? Now that’s a strange one.

“They were waiting on the healer to get here, but he’s been . . . held up.” The way she said that. . . .

Something flashed through my mind. An image, a watery face, peering over a cliff. The face looked eerily similar to Kadra’s. After that faded, another image flashed through my mind, an image of her standing at the edge of the cliff, angry, as I was being carried away by Zairyn.

 _Wait. . . . K-Kadra couldn’t have attacked me. . . . Could she? Would she have?_ I looked away from her, suddenly wanting to get as far from her as possible.

Zairyn grabbed my hand. “Let’s go eat!” This time, because I had a feeling that he was doing it specifically to get away from her, I let him pull me down the hallway, past Kadra, and to the doors leading to the grand entrance hall. He still stayed between me and Kadra, even stepping back a little when we reached the doors and letting me go through first. He didn’t speak again until we were nearing the dining room. “I saw her, too,” he said softly. “At least, I thought I did.”

Chills ran through my body. “Wh-what?”

“That image, in your head? That first one, of a watery face peering over the cliff?” I gave him a look, and his face reddened. “The weird thing is, that was _my_ memory. When I was pulling you out of the water, I looked up, and I saw her standing at the edge, looking down at us. At least, I _think_ it was her. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I was just seeing things. But that image you saw in your mind was my memory, and I was thinking of it when you saw it. I don’t know how you saw it, but maybe I projected it to you. I don’t know, I’ll have to ask my trainer.”

“Y-you think she’s the one who attacked, too?”

A slight nod. “There’s something about her that I just don’t like. I don’t know why, or what it is, but there’s this weird feeling I get around her.”

“Fear?”

He shook his head. “No.” He jumped into a chair at the table, staring down at the table top. “No. It’s more like,” his gaze intensified, “it’s more like I want to _hurt_ her. I don’t know why. I’ve had that feeling since I saw her. I want to hurt her, and I hate her, but I don’t know why. There’s just something wrong about her.”

I climbed into a chair, thinking about that, and thinking about what I wanted to eat. “I want. . . . I still want charbel meat, but. . . .”

The double doors opened. My dad came through, grinning when he saw me. “Good, I found you. You’re coming with me.”

My stomach growled. “I’m hungry, daddy. Can we eat first?”

He shook his head. “Nope. I want you hungry when we get there.” He jogged over, picked me up off the chair, and swung me around. “You’ll love it. I have a _big_ surprise for you.” He looked down at Zairyn. “You too, so get up.”

Zairyn nodded, sliding off the chair. “Okay, but I’m hungry, too.”

“I won’t let two hungry babies starve, but trust me, this will be worth it.” He winked, carrying me to the door, Zairyn trailing behind.

“Where are we going, daddy?”

He looked down at Zairyn. “I have something for you, too. It’s up to you if it stays here when you leave, or goes with you.”

Zairyn looked up at him, and I saw his eyes working. “Your mind is hard to read,” he said after a few seconds.

My dad nodded. “That’s because I knew someone just like you, who was very, very good at telepathy, and I learned how to hide my thoughts.” The double doors to the grand entrance hall opened, and daddy carried me through it. “I think you would’ve liked that man, Zairyn. He’s a lot like you, when he was a kid.”

“Yea? Maybe I could meet him.”

“Someday, maybe.” Silence. He walked toward the big double doors, and the servants ran to open it before he got there. He smiled at them, shifted me, and pulled something from his pocket. “For your troubles,” he said, handing them two necklaces. Earthstones, they looked like.

The servants smiled, bowing deeply.

He glanced at me, smiled. “I always give them a little something--you didn’t think you were the only one, did you?”

“Mama yells at me when she sees me do it.”

A nod. “Me too, but I’m not going to stop, and I hope you don’t, either.” He walked out, to the platform in front of the door, down the stairs.

Seven Pegasus-Unicorn Hybrids stood at the end of the stairs, prancing back and forth. Four servants held each mounted horse, and my sisters grinned at me. The redhead and the blond were mounted alongside my sisters. “It’s about time, Selehevi! What have you been doing these past few days?” Seruiave demanded.

Seiva glared at Zairyn. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“No, actually, he saved me. I, uh, I fell off the cliff, and he saved me.”

She turned away from him, scoffing. “Probably tried to push you,” I heard her mutter.

He shrugged, looked at the horses, and jerked slightly when he looked at a particular one. It was full black, with black, feathered wings, and black eyes. Its horn was even black.

“Ah, you’ve met your Hybrid,” daddy said softly, setting me down. “Zairyn, he’s yours. You may name him anything you want.”

“Vexin. It’s Zashoktian for ‘black coat.’” He smiled, jogging to the Hybrid. “Hi, Vexin. How are you?”

Vexin snorted, stamping his hoof.

Zairyn reached up, stroking the Hybrid’s neck. “He’s so beautiful.”

I smiled at my own Hybrid. “Stariyana,” I stepped up beside her, “you want to go for a ride?”

She snorted, throwing her head back, main flying everywhere. All the Hybrids had already been saddled.

Lifting my foot into the stirrup, I jumped up to grab the saddle horn. Using that to pull myself up, I reached forward and grabbed the reigns. “I’m ready, daddy!”

“Have you ever ridden, Zairyn?”

Zairyn looked up, smiling, nodded. “Yes. We have Hybrids, but I don’t have my own yet. My dad says I’m not old enough to have my own yet.” He mounted the Hybrid the way I had, by grabbing the saddle horn to pull himself up. He grabbed the reigns, smiling at me. “I don’t get to ride very often, but I really like to ride.”

Daddy mounted his own horse. “Now, follow me, children. Riding, it’ll take hours to get there. Flying, it’ll take a few minutes. So, since we’ve got a couple hungry riders,” he winked at me, “we’ll be flying. Lief?”

Lief stretched out his beige-brown wings, took off running, then jumped into the air.

Zairyn’s Hybrid followed first, and I spurred Stariyana into following him. Sei’s dark brown Hybrid followed mine, and Seruiave’s pale yellow Hybrid followed hers. The redhead was on a dark red, almost crimson-colored Hybrid, and the blond was on a bright gold Hybrid. The redhead’s Hybrid took off with Zairyn’s, and I ended up flying beside him.

I looked over at him as Stariyana and the other Hybrids flew higher, and higher. “Hello.”

He glanced at me, then stared ahead. “Hello.”

“My name is Selehevi.”

“I know. I’m Phoenix.”

“Phoenix, nice to meet you.”

His lips twitched slightly, and his face turned red. “Thank you. It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m six. You’re five, right?”

I nodded. “Seiva, Seruiave, and I are triplets. We’re all the same age. Do you have siblings?”

A small nod. “Yes. I have an older brother, and an older sister.”

“How old are they?”

“My brother is eight. My sister is nine.”

“Do you get along with them?”

A shrug. “Not really. I don’t really get along with anyone in my family, because I’m different from them. I’m the only half-breed.” His eyes widened, and he covered his mouth, glancing at me, like he was horrified he’d said it.

“Half-breed?”

He blinked, and looked down at his Hybrid, nodding.

“So what are you half of? I’m a half-breed, too. Half Elf, half Demon.”

He glanced at me. “You’re a half-Demon, too?” His voice was soft, like he was trying to hide that.

I nodded. “I’m a half-Demon. I don’t know anyone else who’s a half-Demon.”

He smiled widely. “Me either. It’s nice to meet another one.”

“What else are you?”

“Half-Vampire. They’re not Vampiric, or Demonic. I get it both from my mom, but I didn’t really inherit anything from my dad.”

I shrugged. “It’s kinda cool, to meet a half-Vampire, half-Demon half-breed. I’ve never known anyone who was either of those things.”

“Me either,” he said softly. “I’ve never met my mom.”

I stared at him. “Y-you never met your mom?”

He shook his head. The Hybrids’ flight leveled out, and we were not flying upward anymore. “My mom died when I was born.”

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “That must really suck.”

A small nod. “It does. I don’t really get to talk to my dad much, because he’s busy all the time.”

It was actually beautiful up here. We weren’t high enough to be in the clouds, but we were high enough that everything blended together down below. “It’s so beautiful up here.”

He looked down. “I never noticed.” His voice was soft again. “But you’re right; it is pretty.”

I threw my head back, threw my arms out, and let myself feel the wind through my hair. “Whooo!” I yelled out, thrusting my chest out. “Whoohoo!”

“Whoohooo!” was echoed right behind me, twice, then again, and once more. Seruiave, Seiva, Zairyn, and Phoenix were following after me, even Daddy yelled out.

The blond stayed silent, eyeing us like we were crazy. “What are you doing?”

“We’re having fun!”

“C’mon, enjoy yourself a little!”

“Whoooo!” Zairyn yelled out again, and I echoed him. More behind me. “Let loose--just because you’re royal, doesn’t mean you can’t have fun!”

“It _does_ mean you are sophisticated and poised at all times, though.”

I rolled my eyes. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Risho Krihna, proud Prince of Pluox.”

“Well, Prince Risho Krihna of Pluox,” I said that with a smile, then stopped smiling, “you’re boring.”

He flipped his hair back, lifting his chin. “I’m _proper,_ unlike you, Selehevi Waenshoare.”

“I’m proper when I need to be, but other than that, I’m-”

“Fun, interesting, and kind,” Zairyn interrupted, casting a glare back at Risho, “and from what I’ve seen of you so far, you are none of those things.”

“I am fun, and interesting,” he protested.

“I notice you didn’t even try to argue the kind part. . . . And you forget, I go to school with you, Risho. I know you better than they do, and as far as I’m concerned,” he glared at him again, “I don’t want you talking to Selehevi.”

“What? Why? Why can’t I talk to her?”

“You and I both know why.” He met Risho’s eyes.

Risho looked away quickly, then fell silent.

“Zairyn?” Seruiave flew up closer. “Why don’t you want him talking to Selehevi?”

He glanced at me. “He knows why, and when you start to come to school, you’ll know why, too.”

“When _do_ we start school, daddy?” Sei asked loudly.

“School? Oh, next week. Your fifth birthday has passed, so you’re eligible for school, and you’ll be starting next week.”

I groaned, but Sei squealed excitedly. “Yes! I can’t wait.” She glanced at me. “On the bright side, we won’t have to do embroidery as much.”

“Well, I guess that’s something.”

“I can’t wait, either. It’ll be so cool! I can’t wait to meet new friends and make new friends. Ooh, it’ll be fun!”

I rolled my eyes at Seruiave’s words. “I’ve been making friends just fine right here.”

“At least you won’t be alone.” Zairyn smiled back at me. “You’ll have Sei, and Xtro. They go to the school, too, and since they’re in our age group, you’ll see them daily.”

“We’ll be landing soon,” daddy called back, “and then we’ll be right there. Get ready!” His Hybrid began the descent.

My Hybrid followed after, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the wind in my hair again. “It feels so good,” I breathed. “The wind. It’s like it’s filling me with energy.”

“It does,” Seruiave agreed.

“That’s because it probably is,” Sei said, laughing. “I mean, we’re Wind Elementals. We get our power from the wind.”

I shrugged. “Sure, probably true.”

Zairyn slowed his Hybrid so his was even with mine, and met my eyes. “Selehevi, I meant what I said. I don’t want him around you. Don’t get me wrong, if you want to be friends with him, I’m not going to stop you. But just, just be careful. That’s all I ask. He’s not what he seems to be.” His Hybrid flew past mine, pulling even with my dad’s.

I stared after him. “He doesn’t like Krion at all, does he?”

Seruiave shrugged. “Personally, I don’t blame him. The guy’s a jerk. He treats the servants like dirt, and I don’t like him.”

“Yea, well, I don’t like _him,_ ” Seiva jerked her chin toward Zairyn. “I really wish he’d just go away. Disappear. Something.”

Seruiave batted her eyelashes. “Why? He’s cute, and his brother is cuter!”

I blinked, turned toward her. “Right. I remember now.” I pointed at her. “You have a crush on his brother!”

She blinked at me, and her face turned red. “Shhh!” she whispered. “Don’t say that so loud!”

It made me laugh. “Oh, you know he knows, right?”

She blinked again. “Wh-what? How?”

I gestured toward Zairyn. “His family? They’re telepaths. They can read your mind.”

Her face paled. She faced forward, and I could swear I saw a bit of green to her cheeks. Not saying anything, her Hybrid pulled ahead of ours.

I met Seiva’s eyes, and we both started to laugh. “That’s awesome, they’re mind-readers?” I nodded, and she frowned, then glared at Zairyn’s back. “Then _that one_ must know how I feel about him,” she said softly.

“I do!” Zairyn yelled back at us. “But stabbing me really _isn’t_ going to work!”

I glanced at him, then Seiva. “Stabbing him?”

She growled, let my Hybrid fly past hers, and fell back where Phoenix had ended up. If looks could kill, Zairyn would have fallen to his death off his Hybrid by now.

And I couldn’t blame her. I really didn’t like the Demon-spawn, either.

“Technically, I’m just a Demon. Not a Demon-spawn. Demon-spawn are weak, pathetic things that are gross to look at.”

I gave him a pointed look. “Sounds exactly like you.”

He grinned back at me. “Not really—I have a fanclub of people that would disagree with you!”

I froze, tensing. _Fanclub? A fanclub, for_ him _? Gross! Why would he have a fanclub?! That’s just weird!_ “I’d join a fanclub for you!”

“Really?”

“I’m always a fan of watching you suffer!”

He laughed.

The trees came into view quickly. We were flying past them soon, and at last, daddy’s horse stopped, touching down on the ground. He turned back toward us. “Look.” He gestured in front of him.

A giant cave, something I’d mistaken for as a hill when we were in the air, because the top of it was all grass. We were right in front of its opening, which was bigger than the palace wall. It was dark inside, too dark to see anything.

“That’s the Dragon Cave?”

“Everyone, off your Hybrids.” Daddy jumped off his, and I followed suit. Everyone else jumped off. He patted his Hybrid’s neck. “Lief, lead them home.”

Lief took off into the sky, and our Hybrids followed.

“Um, daddy, how are we getting home without them?”

“Are they coming back?” I asked.

“No, they’re going home, to be washed and groomed by the servants, and we’re going home by flight.” He grinned. “Though in a way you’ve never flown before. Follow me.” He turned, leading the way into the dark cave.

I paused, then followed. Zairyn fell back beside me as Seruiave and Seiva jogged to keep up with daddy. “Don’t be afraid,” he said, grinning at me. “I’m not going to let anything or anyone hurt you.”

I hmphed, then lifted my chin high. “I don’t know what makes you think I am afraid, but I am not, Zairyn Lekhrsho of Zashokt. So if you would, please, go away.”

He chuckled, keeping up with me when I quickened my pace. “Yea, maybe you can fool others into thinking you’re not afraid, but not me.” He tapped his temple. “I know better.”

“Stay out of my mind!”

His grin widened. “I wasn’t reading your mind. I was reading your face. I can see the fear there.”

I lifted my chin again. “Go away.”

He reached down and grabbed my hand. “Selehevi Waenshoare, I already promised to keep you safe, so unfortunately for you,” he smiled slightly, “I’m never going to go away.”

“What’s that?” I heard Seiva whisper. “Up ahead. Daddy, what is that?”

I followed her pointing finger to see a slight glow up ahead. A small gasp escaped me, and Zairyn slipped in front of me. I let him.

“It’s nothing dangerous, children, I promise. I wouldn’t bring you here if it was dangerous.”

It was starting to get slowly hotter, and hotter, as we walked further and further in.

Zairyn let out a breath. “Oh, that feels almost like home,” he breathed.

I stared at him, wiping sweat from my brow. “Home?”

A small nod. “Yea. It’s really hot there. This is still kinda cold compared to home, but it’s getting there.”

I blinked. “C-cold?”

He glanced at me, smiling. “This is more like the colder weather than the hot weather. I think you should visit during the cold weather if you think _this_ is hot.” A look crossed his face, and he tilted his head. “Then again, you _are_ part Demon. You should be able to handle the heat fairly well.”

“Right now, it’s just hot to me.”

A small nod again. “Of course. You’ve never been introduced to hotter weathers. Isn’t your planet _in_ its hot weather now?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s in the cooler weather. Not the cold or the hot, but somewhere between.”

“Ah. Right. You have three weather types. We have cold and hot. There’s no in-between on my planet.”

“So how cold does it get on your planet?”

A look crossed his face. “Well, it’s colder than the cold weather on this planet, that’s for sure! But it takes time to get that cold. In the middle of the cold weather, it’s really, really cold. In the beginning of the cold weather, it slowly cools off, and in the end, it slowly warms up. So I guess that would be considered an in-between?”

I wasn’t really sure what to say in response to that. “Maybe?” I said, not really knowing because I’d never experienced it.

A small shrug. “It’s nice during the in-betweens, I guess, but I always favored the hot weather more.” A grin. “Not because it feels better, because I really can’t _feel it_ feel it, but because the plants are more beautiful, and my favorite stars are out.”

“What are your favorite star alignment?” I found myself asking.

He looked over at me, smiling. “Hm? Mine? Oh, I think my favorite would be the hiorta mecha up in the western sky. It’s only visible twice a year, though. Our planets have to align just right, or you can’t see it.”

There was a dim, burning light from ahead, and the more steps we took, the brighter, and hotter, it got. About about a couple dozen steps, I could see, silhouetted in the now not so dim light, two large creatures, and a much, much smaller figure.

The smaller figure moved closer to the light, and I gasped. “Evriana! Evr! Hey!” I waved enthusiastically. “When did you get here?”

He looked up, and I could faintly see a smile on his face in the light. The light, I realized, came from a fire behind him. The fire was contained in a circle of black rocks. There were several oval-shaped objects behind him, in the fire.

And the huge creatures moved—and I realized what they were.

I gasped again. “D-Dragons!”

Daddy nodded. “That’s right, love. It’s time for these Dragon eggs to hatch, so we’ve come here to choose our Dragons.” Daddy walked to the bigger Dragon, whom I could see now was a pale gold color. “Lioz, hello.”

“Welcome, Junsei, and welcome, children of Junsei,” the Dragon said in a deep, gravelly voice. Smoke curled out from his nostrils. His face was more than thrice as tall as my dad. “It has come time for you young ones to choose your Dragons. Our young ones are ready to hatch, so the bonding ritual must begin.”

I watched with wide eyes as Daddy waved Risho forward. His legs were shaking slightly. He looked like he was ready to run at any moment, but he stepped forward.

“Speak thy name, child!” the other Dragon said in a husky female voice.

“R-Risho!”

“Risho Krihna of Plutox, come choose your Dragon!”

He took another shaky step forward.

“There is no reason to be afraid,” Evr told him, looking up at him from his perch on his knees, next to the eggs. “They haven’t even been born yet. You should see them when they’re about six moons old. Then they become fearsome!”

Lioz and the female Dragon made strange coughing sounds that I knew were laughing. “That they do, milord Evriana!”

I’d never known a Dragon to call someone “milord!” I stared at Evr.

Evr nodded, mostly to himself. “I should introduce myself, right. I am Evriana of Waelit. I am a Dragonborn. This means that only I have the ability to safely hatch Dragons from their eggs. Without me, they would die. I take them under my wing for the first six moons of life, and teach them what I must. They need my energy to survive. Without me, there would be no Dragons. All Dragons begin and end life with a Dragonborn beckoning them from their egg.”

I didn’t know that.

“Now, come, Risho, sit beside me before you fall.”

Risho sat beside him.

“Look at the eggs. Look, but not just with your eyes. Feel the egg you need, the one you cannot live without. And pick it up. But be careful, if you crack that egg, it would take too much of my energy to save that Dragon.”

He nodded, and stared into the eggs for several moments, then reached in for a beige on with one green line through it. “This one.”

Evriana took the egg from him, and closed his eyes. A violet glow emanated from him, seeming to surround the egg, pushing into it. Something flashed inside the egg, and Evr knocked lightly on the shell. “Time to come out, newborn. Time to brave the new world. Sorry to tell you ahead of time, it’s not all that much better than the world you already know.”

The egg cracked, and out pushed a tiny, clawed beige foot.

I caught my breath. “Seeing a Dragon be hatched—I never thought that would be something I’d do!”

    “Most people don’t get to see their Dragons hatch. Most times, it’s a private ceremony.”

“This is true,” Evriana said, looking up at Zairyn. “This is very true because _most_ Dragonborns don’t like the audience. Personally, neither do I, but this was a favor to King Junsei, as he has granted me a favor.”

Daddy nodded at him, face more solemn than I was used to seeing. “Yes, and thank you, Lord Evriana.”

“You are quite welcome.” He set the Dragon egg down, and it seemed to explode from the inside. Tiny slivers of shell floated in the air for several, breathless moments, then fell, revealing a tiny, horned, clawed Dragon whose claws stretched. Its wings were tiny, still folded in, and its eyes were a bright emerald green, the same color as the line on the shell.

“Oh, my!” Risho exclaimed, staring at the Dragon.

“Now, touch it. Touch the Dragon, feel its power, and let it feel yours. This will create an eternal, unbreakable bond with your Dragon that nobody, save I, can sever.”

Risho touched the Dragon lightly, and then drew back quickly. “It’s hot!”

Evr scoffed. “It’s a newly hatched Dragon. Newly hatched Dragons hatch in fire. Of course it’s hot.” He shook his head. “But there, your Dragon has been hatched.” He looked up at the rest of us. “Who’s next?”

“I believe Seiva should go next,” daddy said, nudging Sei forward. “Go, choose your Dragon.”

Sei was much steadier on her feet as she made her way toward the Dragons, but she took a long, slow look at the eggs. After a moment or two, her back stiffened, and she reached out to touch an egg. She stroked it for a few seconds, then picked it up. In her hands, she held a pure golden Dragon egg, which she stared down at with a combination of adoration and awe. “This one,” she said softly. “This is the one.”

Evr took the egg, and that strange, violet glow emanated from him again. I felt the hairs on the nape of my neck stand at attention, and I shuddered slightly. The egg burst, and all the tiny shivers floated in the air for a moment, then fell. Evr now held a tiny creature whose back was decorated in sharp, but small spines. This Dragon was a thicker built Dragon than the other much thinner one. “Your Dragon is a Fighter-Type Dragon,” Evr explained. “Touch it.”

Sei reached out immediately without hesitation and lay her hand gently along the ridges of the tiny Dragon’s back. “She’s beautiful,” she murmured. “I love her already!”

I smiled, watching the exchange, tilting my head. Somehow, this felt strangely . . . familiar, in a way.

Evr put the Dragon next to the first, where Sei’s Dragon sniffed hesitantly at Evr’s feet, before vomiting up some weird, blackish tar. “Dragon’s secrete a black liquid in their lungs when they are in their eggs. The liquid must be expelled once they are hatched. They then eat that liquid, which gives them the ability to breathe fire. Fighter-Dragon types will expel the liquid faster, while Flight-Type Dragons, like Risho’s, keep theirs for a much longer period of time, sometimes upwards of a year.” He looked up. “Next!”

Phoenix stepped forward. “I-I’d like to go.”

A nod. “Come on up, then!”

He walked slowly toward the nest, and Evr’s perch, peering down at the eggs left. It didn’t take him long to choose a red egg with thin black veins running through it. “This one.”

Evr took the egg, and that strange ceremony repeated itself, and I realized the violet glow was Evr’s energy. I found myself wondering if he’d run out of that energy. The Dragon that was freed from its shell this time was a crimson Dragon with black eyes, and thin, black, spidery veins running through it. After Phoenix touched it, and it was set down, it, too, vomited a black tar-like liquid.

And then Seruiave went up. She practically danced the whole way up, and it took her a mere second to pick up a pale gold and blue egg. “I’ve been staring at it since we got here!” she said, holding it against her chest. “I’m already in love with it.” She gave the egg to Evr.

Mere minutes later, a tiny, long, thin Dragon popped out. It was a pale blue with pale creamy gold eyes, and pale gold under its folded in wings. Seruiave touched it, stroking it lightly, staring at it with round eyes. “She’s gorgeous!”

Evr set that Dragon hatchling down, and it immediately stretched out its tiny, thin wings. It flapped several times, as if trying to fly, but soon gave that up and curled into a ball to sleep. “Flight-Type Dragon wings will evolve much faster than Fighter-Type Dragon wings. They begin flying faster, and within a week, the Flight-Type Dragons will have fully extended their wings about six feet.”

Staring at the tiny creatures that were barely a foot long, I couldn’t believe in a week, their wings would be six feet long.

“Seems impossible, but it’s true. Some do take a little over a week, but not much.”

Zairyn was next. He glanced at me, and stepped forward. There were only two Dragon eggs left, and he stared at both. Both were black, but one was a strange kind of black that took on different colors in the strange light of the fire. That was the one I felt I needed. The other one was a deep, pure black that was so black, it gleamed a little blue. That was the one Zairyn picked up. “This one.”

Evr nodded and took it. The Dragon that popped free of that one was the biggest that had been hatched so far. It was pure black, save for a strange white lightning-shaped bolt on its forehead. Its eyes were pure black, too. It was the biggest, but still a tiny little creature that opened and closed its tiny mouth in a wide yawn that showed off sharp, white teeth, and a pink tongue. It was an adorable gesture for something that would soon become a fearsome creature.

It vomited up the blackness right after its birth, then stretched out its wings.

“Yours is a Mixed-Type Dragon,” Evr said, tilting his head. “Rare, that type. Hunters keep trying to steal Mixed-Type eggs, thus killing them before they’re even hatched. Dragon eggs are much more delicate than people think. Mixed-Dragon types fly and breathe fire faster than other types. They are very rare, due to Dragonhunters and the morons that pay them.” Evr shook his head, then looked up at me. “Your turn.”

I could sense his energy was running a little low. I hurried forward, and picked up the last egg. Cradling it against my chest, I felt a quick, almost painful _zing_ of energy. _This is what they felt when they picked up their eggs?_ It was a powerful current of energy that ran through me until I turned the egg over to Evr. This time, sitting so close to him while he worked his Magick on the egg, I could feel his energy, too. Prickling at my skin, like little needles, tingly. It was a strange feeling.

And _pop!_ Out came probably the smallest Dragon. Its scales were straight black, but gleamed different colors in the light of the fire. Green, blue, purple, white, all kinds of colors in its black scales. It opened wide, white eyes and stared straight at me, then licked out its long, pink tongue. It vomited that black liquid before I’d even touched it, but once I touched the tiny creature, I knew it was a girl.

I could feel that strange _zing_ when I touched it, only this time, it was like a giant slap in my face. It was like my whole body got electrocuted. That feeling faded after a moment, but left a wholesome, _this is right_ feeling in its place. I felt . . . right.

I stared at her as she stretched her tiny wings.

“Yours is also a Mixed-Type Dragon. How interesting, for two to be born in the same batch of eggs.” He studied me a moment, then turned away. “Okay. You should all go. I have work to do that I can’t do with an audience.”

I nodded and stood, then jogged back to daddy. “Th-that was so cool! This was fun. Can we come back and see them again?”

“Unfortunately, Se, we won’t be able to visit the hatchlings for six moons. After that, the next ceremony takes place, and they’ll leave for another six moons, and we’ll do the last ceremony. After that, they will become your companions.” Daddy looked up at Lioz. “Remember our ceremony, old friend?”

“You stepped on my tail. Twice.” The Dragon chuckled. “Then you tripped on your face.”

Daddy laughed, and I struggled to combine this clumsy version of my father with the surefooted version I knew now. “That’s right. And you blew fire at me.”

“You still have that scar on your butt?”

He nodded. “Yupp, I do.”

They both laughed at that. “Good times,” the Dragon said, closing his eyes. “When we were both barely more than Hatchlings. Now . . . we have Hatchlings of our own.” He turned to look at the pile of baby Dragons. “Some of them have been our Hatchlings twice.” He then turned to look at Seruiave, then Sei, then me, and lastly, at Phoenix and Zairyn. “How things change.”

 


End file.
